Colchester United head coach John McGreal delighted with his side's character and performance after Stevenage victory

The U's made it five wins out of a possible six in League Two and are now two points off the play-off positions, thanks to a big win at the Lamex Stadium.

Goals from Brennan Dickenson and Kurtis Guthrie put Colchester 2-0 up inside the opening 15 minutes.

And although Ben Kennedy and Matt Godden levelled things up for Stevenage, late goals from substitutes Chris Porter and Tarique Fosu sealed a fine three points for the U's.

McGreal said: "I would have to say that that was the best my side has played, this season.

"We knew it would be a difficult place to come to - they're in and around us and it's a tight position in the league but the pleasing thing for me was that with both systems of play, we still created tons of chances, which was excellent.

“We went out with a good purpose to our play and got a couple of goals up.

“We went asleep a little bit with their equaliser, as I thought we could go on and score three or four in that period in the first half.

“For them to come back to 2-2 and for us to step on again was terrific and it was great character from the boys.

“I have to give the boys tons of credit – the 3-5-2 that we’ve been going with of late worked to a certain extent in the first half.

“Stevenage changed their shape and got back into the game at 2-2 but the boys adapted again and went 4-3-3 and we stepped up again and that’s when we got more chances and our goals but it was tight, in the middle of the second half."

Colchester changed their starting line-up for the first time in six matches after midfielder Craig Slater was ruled out due to illness and Drey Wright came in.

"Craig went down this morning," said McGreal, who also confirmed that Denny Johnstone was taken off at half-time because of a hamstring injury.

"He's been struggling with illness throughout the week - he trained yesterday but wasn't able to make it."