ECSTATIC Colchester United head coach John McGreal felt Mika Mandron was rewarded for his tireless workrate after grabbing a late winner against Coventry City.

The French striker glanced home Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe’s cross with two minutes remaining to secure an important 2-1 win at the Weston Homes Community Stadium, on Tuesday night.

McGreal felt the frontman was a worthy hero because of his graft and contribution to the team.

“I was delighted for Mika to get the winner,” he said.

“We keep saying to Mika ‘if you keep putting in the hard work, you’ll get your rewards’ and he’s done that and got us the points.

“It’s not all about his attacking prowess, it’s also about what he does for the team.

“The first line of defence is from the forwards and they have to know their roles and responsibilities.

“Junior has been with us six weeks and he’s picking that up.

“I still have to bark at him at times from the touchline but that’s what I’m here for – I’m here to guide them and improve them.”

Colchester are tenth in the League Two table, now level with Coventry, but only three points behind seventh-placed Lincoln City.

They will be hoping to give their play-off ambitions another boost when they head to Crewe Alexandra on Saturday.

“Tuesday was a really important win for us against one of our rivals,” said McGreal.

“I thought we deserved it overall and played some terrific football at times.”

“It was nice to get the late goal.

“We don’t tend to get late goals - we always tend to concede them - so it was good for a change to get a winner.”