Colchester United manager Tony Humes hailed his players' performance after they won 3-2 at Sheffield United to register their first victory of the season.

Marvin Sordell's deflected winner with eight minutes remaining gave the U's all three points at Bramall Lane, with goalkeeper Jamie Jones making a dramatic penalty save to deny Billy Sharp from the spot in the final minutes.

A fine brace from midfielder George Moncur had given Colchester a two-goal cushion at half-time, following a superb all-round first-half display.

And although goals from Sharp and Martyn Woolford got the Blades back into the contest after the interval, Sordell popped up with a late winner for Colchester.

Humes said: “It’s hard to take in the amount that has happened in the game.

“It was fantastic entertainment and great to come to a place like Sheffield United and go home with the three points.

“On the balance, we were absolutely superb in the first half, scoring two great goals and we had a few other chances.

“We were also very solid at the back and that was nice to see.

“You know you’ll come under pressure at some stage in the game and Sheffield United have got experienced players who have played at the top level.

“They had a fantastic crowd behind them and you know you’ll come under pressure at some stage and we expected that in the second half.

“But you can’t gloss over what a great performance it was in the first half with the quick football that was tremendous.

“The pace, power and quality of our game was very, very good and in the second half, we showed the other side of it.

“Despite conceding two goals I thought the back four were terrific as were the whole team.

“It was a great effort – we got a little bit of luck with the winning goal but Marvin deserved his goal at the end, albeit with a deflection.

“No-one would begrudge us the win, I think.”

For full coverage of the U's thrilling game at Sheffield United, see Wednesday's Daily Gazette.