Pressley mad for Madine

Coventry manager Steven Pressley hailed the performance of match-winner Gary Madine after Coventry won 1-0 at Colchester.

The on-loan Sheffield Wednesday striker scored for the second time in three games to help the Sky Blues leapfrog the U's in the table. Pressley said: "Gary (Madine) has been brilliant. "When he arrived, I think he was shocked by the intensity and standard of the training and he's slowly adapted to that. "He's now getting that game time and training into his legs and not only was he well worth his goal, I thought his all-round performance was terrific and he was our focal point. "I thought that Gary and Frank (Nouble) linked up well together. "I'm very satisfied with the win but I'm not getting ahead of myself. "It's one victory but it was a very important victory and they'll be no let-up. "Since the disappointment of the cup (defeat), our level of performance, work ethic and desire has been fantastic. "We had a brilliant response against Plymouth and we did the same against Notts County. "We worked exceptionally hard again and the response of the players has been very good." Colchester boss Tony Humes was disappointed after watching the U's fall to a third successive league defeat. Humes said: "It was a poor performance all round. "Coventry came to make it difficult for us which we expected - they're a big, strong and physical team and we weren't good enough to break them down. "We huffed and puffed in the first half and we had a plan to move the ball quickly, but we didn't do that quickly enough. "I will give Coventry a lot of credit because they did stop us playing, but we weren't clever enough or didn't have enough brightness about us to break them down. "The biggest thing when that's the case is not to give away sloppy goals, which is what we did. "Before the goal it was quite even, but when they scored it killed us and by the end, they could have scored three or four. "We have young players and they make mistakes because they're learning the game, but they've got to take responsibility." Nouble squandered a great chance to give Coventry a seventh-minute lead when he fluffed a shot straight at goalkeeper Sam Walker. George Moncur's rising shot whistled just wide for Colchester, while Coventry goalkeeper Ryan Allsop denied Sanchez Watt. Nouble scuffed a shot wide just before half-time, but Madine struck with 16 minutes remaining when he scrambled home from five yards after Walker had initially denied substitute Danny Swanson. Walker denied Ryan Haynes late on, but a single goal proved enough for Coventry. Breaking news, transfer gossip, line ups and goal alerts from your football club - delivered direct to your mobile. Sign up for Sky Sports Alerts