Colchester boss Danny Cowley happy with a point against in-form Bristol Rovers

Danny Cowley was proud of his Colchester team after they fought back to hold in-form Bristol Rovers to a 1-1 draw.

Micah Mbick marked his first Football League start with a goal when he converted Jack Payne’s pass to equalise for the hosts in the 52nd minute.

Colchester had fallen behind in the 40th minute when Fabrizio Cavegn finished clinically from inside the box, following Alfie Chang’s fine through pass.

The U’s looked the more likely side to win with Kyreece Lisbie and Teddy Bishop both denied by Rovers goalkeeper Luke Southwood.

It was a positive response from Cowley’s team following their dismal 1-0 defeat at Accrington last week.

Cowley said: “I was proud of the performance.

“I’ve lived a lot of football but that was one of my toughest weeks, that horrible feeling when you’ve let everybody down that we’ve had to live with all week.

“It’s not the disappointment that defines you, it’s always the response because disappointment will happen in life and certainly in elite sport.

“We responded really well and put a performance together that we can be proud of.

“I’m just sad really that we didn’t find that second goal because I thought we were really deserving of it. I thought we played really well.

“The boys talk a lot about what we stand for and what we want to be, and we always say ‘no disappointment’ and that was the message at half-time.

“We knew that if we played as well as we did first half in the second half, we’d get back into the game.”

Rovers had gone into the match on the back of four straight league wins, but did not really show that form at Colchester.

Rovers boss Darrell Clarke said: “It was a tough earned point – we were never quite at our best.

“I want to analyse that game, there was a lot going off in the game.

“The injury unsettles us early, we score a good goal and then start the second half sloppy and were a little bit loose in possession and didn’t have enough control as I would have liked.

“We take a point and move on. At times, we were really sloppy in possession.

“In the first half, I felt if we get a pass or a first connection right we’ll get in, but the midfielders didn’t really connect as well as I would have liked.

“But we score a good goal. We’ve been patient with Fabrizio, but it was another good workout for him and another goal for him.

“It was a sloppy start in the second half and it was a bit of a basketball game.”