U's Get Stern Lesson

Stern John proved to be the thorn in the side of the U's as they were narrowly beaten in front of the Sky Cameras at Coventry`s Ricoh Arena last night.

John scored late into first half injury time after a mistake in midfield by Kem Izzet, after Coventry keeper Andy Marshall`s long punt up field.

The first half had seen the Sky Blues make more headway in the game than their opponents from North Essex. Ex-Canary Leon McKenzie gave Colchester's Greg Halford a torrid time on the right wing, earning Halford a yellow card for lunging into an early challenge.

Indeed the referee seemed determined to punish the U's players at every opportunity, but failed to punish Coventry for two obvious stampings on Iwelumo and Halford, along with late challenges on Watson and Garcia who were both forced off after sustaining an injury`s from bad unpunished challenges.

With two of Colchester`s valuable midfield missing, it was difficult to create anything of any note, although Jamie Cureton saw his snapshot saved at the second attempt.

Colchester came out brighter in the second half, only for their host to extend their lead after another great ball from Stern John, it seemed it would not be the U`s night and indeed they didn`t start playing until the introduction of youngster Jamie Guy in the 80th minute.

Guy replaced a lackluster Iwelumo, and his direct approach soon paid dividends, strike partner Cureton laid off a lovely ball for Guy on the left wing, advancing towards the box, Guy struck from the apex of the penalty area shooting through the legs of a defender past the despairing dive of Marshall and into the corner of the net. This set up a nervous last 5 minutes for the home side, but they held on to take all 3 points.

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