Danny Cowley praises Colchester’s work rate in victory against MK Dons

Danny Cowley hailed a “great win” after Colchester’s 2-0 victory over MK Dons earned his side their first points of the new Sky Bet League Two season.

Substitute Arthur Read opened the scoring with less than 10 minutes of normal time remaining before Jack Payne added a second in stoppage time against his former club.

Cowley said: “I think it is a great win for us. A week is a long time in football and we were disappointed this time last week. But we responded really, really well.

“Credit to the players because a huge amount of effort has gone into our organisation all week. I think we worked hard on the game plan, but the players have to deliver it.

“In the first half, we didn’t have a lot of the ball, but they had two shots.

“I’m just pleased because we have worked so hard in pre-season, we put so much work into the fitness of the players.

“The players have had to really push and dig deep. If you want resilient players, you have to train their resilience and take them to places that they don’t want to go.

“They worked hard in pre-season and worked hard for moments like this. We know we can finish games in a really strong way. We got stronger and stronger as the game went on, it is a great win for us.”

Meanwhile, MK Dons head coach Mike Williamson believes that his side have still not found their potential.

He said: “It feels as though the performances aren’t up to the levels that we expect them to be. It is a work in progress.

“We can talk about new players or injuries but for me, the facts are the facts, and we have just got to make sure that we control what we can control, which is what’s going back on the training ground and improving our understanding and our detail.

“If we keep the grit and the determination, the quality will show through.”

Williamson also talked about Callum Hendry. The forward could not find the back of the net in Essex, but Williamson remains encouraged by the 26-year-old.

He added: “His personality I take all day because he works his socks off, he is relentless, he will always hold his hands up.

“He probably could have had a couple of goals already, but hasn’t had them. But that is the nature of being a striker.

“It isn’t going to stop his work rate, so that is something that we can keep on focusing on and it will turn for him.”