Humes demands more of the same

Colchester boss Tony Humes targeted a winning run for his League One strugglers after they earned a 1-0 victory at Oldham.

Sammie Szmodics grabbed the only goal as the U's bounced back from two straight defeats to give their survival hopes a boost. Humes said: "Oldham were fifth in the table and everyone expected them to beat us, but we were strong and resilient. "It was a terrific, solid team performance and we need to start doing it more consistently. "Oldham created things where they could have done better, but they didn't have enough to break us down and it's fantastic to come here and take three points. "There are 16 games left in the season and we need to play like this more often. We have a great chance not only to get out of trouble but hopefully to climb a bit more. "We work together as a group and we need to rally and show the same commitment every week. "It was a composed finish from Sammie, who has always had the knack of scoring goals in all his time at the club. The goal gave us something to hang on to and we were composed and confident." Szmodics scored after just two minutes when he drilled in from six yards after Oldham had failed to clear David Fox's corner. Colchester goalkeeper Sam Walker made good saves from Jacob Mellis and Jonathan Forte, but play-off chasing Oldham struggled to create chances against a well-drilled visiting defence. Colchester could have added to their lead as Gavin Massey and Matthew Briggs both tested Latics goalkeeper Jake Kean. When Oldham did beat Walker in the fourth minute of injury time, Liam Kelly's close-range volley was disallowed for offside. Oldham manager Lee Johnson was baffled by his team's performance as the Latics had beaten high-flying Swindon in midweek. Johnson said: "We gave it a go in the second half and the subs gave us energy and impetus, but it was the first 20 minutes that killed us. "We knew set-pieces could be an issue, but we conceded early and you have to look at individual mistakes. "It was a classic case of 'after the Lord Mayor's show', which as a manager you try to guard against, and I don't know what it was. "Maybe we couldn't handle the pressure of a better crowd or having to break down a side in the bottom four, but it's where we are at the moment. "If you step into the road and see a car you get out of the way, but some of our players would have been hit because the mindset wasn't right. "This division is about very fine margins and it's not that the players weren't up for it. "But we didn't have the football intelligence and we played on the periphery - you need the same mindset for every game, but we made it easy for Colchester."