Danny Cowley hails resolute display from Colchester in win at Bromley

Danny Cowley hailed a resolute performance from his Colchester side as they returned to winning ways with a hard-fought 1-0 victory at Bromley.

Owura Edwards’ fourth-minute strike was all they needed to secure the points as the winger ran on to Lyle Taylor’s through ball to score.

Cowley said: “I thought the victory was really well deserved against a difficult opponent.

“Bromley are a direct team that get forward really early and give you very little breathing space. You have to be really committed and aggressive in the duels but disciplined at the same time as you can’t beat or play them at their game.

“I thought we found the balance well and looked a real threat when we turned the ball over and counter-attacked them.

“Owura’s goal epitomised that, I was so happy to see him get that goal.

“I think while Bromley had a lot of territory, at times we restricted them to very little. We really had to step up and I felt we earned the right to win that game with sheer hard work on and off the ball.”

The game got off to a fast start, with Edwards side-footing home inside the opening five minutes.

Jamie McDonnell could have doubled the lead five minutes later but his header was cleared off the line by Omar Sowunmi.

With Edwards continuing to cause havoc, the winger then set up Jack Payne whose effort from 12 yards was well saved by Grant Smith.

The second 45 saw Colchester continue to create the better chances, with both Taylor and Mandela Egbo drawing fine saves from Smith.

With Bromley chasing the game, they finally fashioned an opportunity when Ellis Iandolo almost turned a Louis Dennis cross into his own net. From the resulting corner, Deji Elerewe headed just over the crossbar.

However, that was as good as it got as Colchester saw out the remainder of the match with minimum fuss.

Bromley manager Andy Woodman did not hold back in his assessment.

He said: “I thought we were the masters of our own downfall. The goal we gifted to them was poor, you can’t allow the man at the back stick to ghost in unattended like that.

“Once you do that it’s always going to be an uphill battle. Colchester were never going to give it away from there as it suited their game plan.

“If I had been in Colchester’s position I would have done the exact same thing in respect of killing the game from 1-0 up.

“Fair play to them, they stopped us getting any momentum going or any real quality or flow.

“People will try and say we had a hangover from Newcastle but that is not an excuse, we were just poor all over the park.”