Colchester boss Aidy Boothroyd spoke to BBC Radio Essex after his side's 2-1 win over Carlisle at the Weston Homes Community Stadium, Boothroyd pleased that the U's managed to grind out a victory thanks to an injury time winner from Kayode Odejayi :
" For 60 minutes of the game we were really pretty average to be honest. The boos and the whinges and the moans, Boothroyd you don't know what you are doing, you are having a laugh, it is Aidy by the way for those people out there, Aidy is fine, more personal and I can still take it, it is fine. " And they were absolutely right, it was really dire, but we made a couple of changes and I thought it was a terrific finish and I thought we deserved it in the end. We hit the bar, we hit the post, we have gone close and obviously Kay (Kayode Odejayi) has made one and scored one so sometimes it happens for you.
" The strikers know it is a competitive part of the team, Kay, Gilly (Steven Gillespie), Kevin Lisbie, (Ian) Henderson can play there as well and Clive Platt. It is a competitive part of the team and it is great that as a manager you have got players of that quality on the bench to come on.
" I thought Kay looked lively at Leeds, I was debating whether to start him or not but I thought Gilly deserved a crack, and he has come on and done absolutely superb in that final half an hour.To be honest when he scored I was just jumping up and down delighted but I think he might have been offside. But these things happen and it is unfortunate for Carlisle but we kept going. "
" I don't think anybody could really argue tonight that we didn't deserve what we got with the chances that we had in the second-half, especially the last half-hour. But it is one of those things and it will happen to us, don't worry about that, and I will bring it up but I won't moan about it if it does happen to us, because it does even itself out.
" Great for him to get a goal because once he has signed he has drifted off the pace a little bit. But he has certainly come back with aplomb tonight, I thought he was excellent. He was better than when he first came in on loan.
" It was tactical taking Gillespie off because we needed something to freshen it up. I don't think the pitch helps Steve either, I am not complaining about the surface or anything like that, but I don't think it does help him.
" He is a ball carrier, he gets into little pockets and sometimes a pitch like this needs a more physical presence and the two boys do work well together, Gilly and Clive. But unfortunately tonight it was a lot of hard work from Steven but it just wasn't coming off.
" The fans getting on my back is fine, it is part and parcel of being a manager, you are either a King or a clown aren't you and at the moment I am a King. Probably next week I will be a clown and that is part of it. They should have a little bit more faith, they know me better than that, but that is expectation. "
" We finished tenth last year, we had the worst home record in the league and now all of a sudden we have got the second best defensive record. We are growing as well, we are getting better, that is only the second time we have come back from a goal down to win it, and if you are going to get promotion then you need to have the character to be able to do that.
" We are a work in progress, we are a growing team and a little bit more patience might be nice. It is a special feeling to come back and win a game and you need it if you are going to get promotion. We start games very well usually and we get in front and then we crush teams, but today we had to fight and grind it down. They were slowing it down, it was a real hard fought win but I thought we deserved it.
" It was good work from John-Joe O'Toole for Clive's goal, he wasn't great tonight Clive but what he does give you is he is a presence and he upsets the opposition, so we will take it. Kemal Izzet covered every blade of clay, he does well for us does Kem, he is an unsung hero.
" We are just about there on a contract extension for him and he deserves it, he will get his testimonial, he is a terrific guy to have in the dressing room and he is one of those soldiers that every team and every club needs.
" That was Ian Harte's 11th goal of the season, we knew he would be a threat. He is terrific with his delivery on set plays and he is also a big threat in there. It is irritating because it is only the second goal we have conceded from a corner in the 20-odd games I have been here. So it is really, really annoying because you can't do things like that. It was Magnus Okounghae's man, because he is an honest boy, and we will do some more work on it. "
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