Tony Humes praised his Colchester United side after they battled against the odds to claim their first win of the season.

The U's beat Leyton Orient 2-0 at Brisbane Road thanks to goals from Sanchez Watt and Freddie Sears, despite going down to ten men after skipper Magnus Okuonghae was sent off just before half-time following a challenge on former team-mate, David Mooney.

Colchester looked a dangerous force in the second half despite their numerical disadvantage and had further chances to score, as they chalked up their first win under Humes and a second successive clean sheet.

Humes said: “We’re absolutely delighted.

“It was backs against the wall and we were expecting more or less what we got.

“I was slightly disappointed with the way we kept the ball in the first half and we lacked a little bit of belief, in terms of how we were trying to play.

“But we showed absolute togetherness as a team and defended resolutely and went in 0-0.

“Magnus was sent off and decisions aren’t going for us but we stuck together and we got over it and we showed a fantastic team spirit.

“We had to be braver with the ball in the second half being down to ten men and we kept two up front as an outlet to try and do that and get on the ball.

“Sometimes, if you go down to ten men you put everyone behind the ball and all you end up going is one way.

“The way we want to play the game is going forward and we believe that’s the way we want to play.

“There was some fantastic counter-attacking football with real quality and good decision-making.

“We could have had one or two more goals and I think we played better with ten men than we did with 11."

For five pages of coverage of Colchester's win at Leyton Orient, see Monday's Daily Gazette.