Colchester United enjoyed their ‘best win of the season’ on Tuesday night as they defeated Exeter City at the JobServe Community Stadium.

The home side had been struggling in League Two prior to the victory, only winning one of their previous five games, but a fine performance saw them hit three goals past an impressive Grecians side who saw their 20-game unbeaten run come to an end.

Matt Taylor’s side had won five consecutive matches coming into the mid-week round of fixtures but couldn’t extend it further as goals from Sylvester Jasper, Noah Chilvers and Freddie Sears were enough to seal an important three points for a delighted Hayden Mullins.

“I’d say it was our best win of the season so far,” Mullins told the Gazette. “If we’d have made it 4-1, it’d definitely have been that!

“We played really well at Stevenage and didn’t get the goals that we deserved.

“I think that was a better performance than it was tonight.

“We came up against a much better side in Exeter and we were clinical, which was very pleasing and it was a very good win.

“We were the better team for large periods against Stevenage and we got done with the penalty and took no points. We were solid in what we were doing and looked assured – we took our chances and scored some really good goals.

“Exeter had come off such a long unbeaten run and it was always going to be a tough game. They were always going to start strongly and try and be bright and attack the game.

“I’m sure they’d have looked at us and thought they could dominate us but the boys did everything we asked of them.”

Colchester took a two-goal lead into the break but a Padraig Amond strike threatened to spoil the party. The cushion was restored thanks to a seventh goal of the season from Freddie Sears sealing the first three-goal haul at home for the U’s in over a year.

“We’ve got some really bright players,” Mullins added.

“Sylv (Jasper) has got that and I’ve asked for Sylv to take a few more chances.

“I think he shot from a little bit too far out on Saturday (at Stevenage); he tried just too many outside the box. But tonight he has caught the goalkeeper kind of off guard with his shot.

“We then went 2-0 up and it’s not as cagey.

“I asked the boys not to be cagey; we’ve got to be brave with 45 minutes left but there’s always going to be an element of that, with a team chasing.

“We don’t want to open it up too much so you kind of find yourself dropping off a little bit too much.

“It was a good finish by Noah.

“I thought it might have taken a little bit of a deflection but he hit it really well. It was a great ball in from Cameron (Coxe) and Noah’s finished it really, really well.

“That set us up nicely and we knew we’d get chances on the counter-attack. We thought about a shape change that we might have to go to which we did and it proved right and Freddie (Sears) gets himself a well-deserved goal, too.

“Exeter are a good side who have scored plenty of goals and have beaten a lot of good sides, this season.

“I’m happy that we’ve brought their run to an end and it shows our boys where we’ve been with our performances and results, up until this game.

“I think Scunthorpe, Sudbury, Ipswich away and I’d put Stevenage in that albeit the result and tonight and we’ve got to be really happy with our work tonight.”

“The manner of the goals hurt us”

Matt Taylor was unimpressed by the manner of the goals his side conceded but remained philosophical about how his team had done over the course of the last few matches.

“What hurt us was the goals, it sounds obvious, but the manner in which they came, either against the run of play or the ease in which they hurt our backline,” Taylor said post-match.

“The first one was a good finish but it was preventable and certainly the other two were. We got back in the game and I thought we were going to take our chances and then there was a disallowed goal given wrongly against us which would have made it 2-2, but the quick slap in the face took it away from us.

“I can’t be too hard on the lads tonight, but we have to know why we were so defensively poor tonight.

“We dominated large parts, had lots of possession but didn’t threaten or work them enough. Second half their keeper made some good saves, but we always create, we always score, but it is the manner in which the goals went against us which is something we cannot allow to happen as it gives us a mountain to climb.”

The data

Colchester came into the match with the worst xG from open play in League Two and they also had a worryingly bad xGA (expected goals against) relying heavily on keeper Shamal George to get them out of trouble. Jake Turner replace the injured stopper for the game against Exeter and put in a good performance in a match that saw the visitors win the xG battle on the night.

xG data from Experimental361

The Grecians have, on the other hand, shown that their position in the league table is justified with the club having the third-best xG in the division coming into the mid-week round of fixtures. It was a disappointing night for the Devonshire outfit but, overall, they are still enjoying an excellent season and will look to bounce back at Rochdale on Saturday.