CHRIS Porter has revealed a dose of acupuncture helped him play through the pain barrier and salvage Colchester United a precious point.

The 32-year-old striker came off the bench to score a fine late equaliser at Crawley Town and secure the U’s a 1-1 draw, which helped keep them in touch with the League Two front-runners.

Porter had been struggling with a hamstring problem in the run-up to the game at the Broadfield Stadium and was left on the bench against the Reds.

But he was sent on with 20 minutes remaining and salvaged a point for his side, thanks in part to the alternative medicine he had received prior to the game.

Porter told the Daily Gazette: “I was struggling with it and didn’t have the power on my left side to push on.

“It was niggling away at me but having acupuncture helped.

“It was OK but the manager may not have wanted to risk me in the end.

“It’s one of those things – if you ask any player, they’ll say they’re never really 100 per cent in a game.

“I don’t think people necessarily realise the pain that players go through to play and it’s very rare that there’s nothing wrong with you physically, when you’re on the field – most of the time, players have got some kind of pain.

“It’s the nature of the beast and what happens in professional sport.

“But having acupuncture can help to relive the tension around the problem area.

“I had a hamstring problem last season and acupuncture was what helped to cure it, in the end."

Colchester had trailed to Adi Yussuf’s first-half strike, before Porter came on to bag a dramatic 88th-minute equaliser.

“As a player, you have to be ready at all times,” added the former Sheffield United forward.

“I thought all of the subs who came on at Crawley did well and when you get the chance, you have to take it.

“It was a great knock down by Luke Prosser and it was a good first touch and I managed to put it in.

“I felt just before that, we were unlucky not to score - their keeper made an unbelievable save (from Sammie Szmodics) and there were goalmouth scrambles.

“I think it’ll prove to be a very good point, come the end of the season.

“I think we edged the game but we’ll take the point.

“We’re looking resilient away from home and our home form had been very good too, until last weekend.

“I can’t put my finger on why we didn’t perform as well against Accrington Stanley as we have been doing.

“But we’ve been hard to beat and we’ve not lost many – there’s a good feeling the camp.”