DANNY Cowley says his Colchester United players can be 'proud' of their efforts against Grimsby Town after they won 2-0 to give their League Two survival hopes a huge lift.

Goals from Tom Hopper and John Akinde secured the U's a vital victory at the JobServe Community Stadium, leaving them four points above the relegation zone with three games of their season remaining.

It followed up the U's 3-2 win at Crawley Town and it was only the second time this season that they have registered back-to-back victories in the league.

READ MORE: Match report as Colchester claim vital victory over Grimsby Town

Cowley said: "I'm proud of the efforts from the group.

"We've gone back to back at a really important time.

“We’ve still got work to do but I think we can be really pleased with ourselves tonight.

“I thought we had a really good first half an hour and went 1-0 up.

"It was a really good finish by Tom - he had so much time to think and it was a lovely finish.

"He's a really good player and I'm so pleased that he's started to find some goals along with all the other stuff he does for the team.

"He was running on fumes by the end of it and he runs so hard for the team.

"Against the ball, he's like two players for us.

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"We could have gone 2-0 up.

"Fevs (Jayden Fevrier) chops inside and I think 'goal' because I watch him do that in training all the time.

"He was incredible tonight, Fevs and his ability to turn defence into attack is brilliant for us.

“We didn’t go 2-0 up at that time and probably in the middle part of the game, there was a bit of a storm.

“We lost Alistair Smith which was a big loss and came out and tried to keep the same system that just didn’t quite work, with the personnel.

“So then they were quite gung-ho and loading six on the attacking line so we went to a back five and I think once we did that on maybe 50 minutes, we got a foothold back in the game and looked a real threat on the counter attack.

READ MORE: Colchester United 2 Grimsby Town 0 - as it happened

“We had numerous chances and then it took a Glenn Hoddle-esque chip from John Akinde to win us the game.

"He said to me he saw the keeper off his line and you can't be off the line if I've got the ball!

"He's managed to find a really good chip right over the goalkeeper into the goal.

"It was a really important moment, a big moment.

"I've known John a long time and when it gets big and really matters, he always finds the best version of himself and I think he's done that."

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It was Colchester's first home league clean sheet since last September, much to the delight of Cowley.

"I thought it was a really important clean sheet for us," said the U's boss.

"I thought we defended their set pieces really well and when we needed Sam Hornby, he stepped up and put in a really mature, reliable performance."

The only downside for Colchester on the night was Tom Dallison's late dismissal for a challenge on Grimsby attacker Justin Obikwu.

Cowley added: "I didn't think it was a red card; they did - they were trying to get players sent off pretty much all the game in their technical area.

"I thought Tom came out to block the ball and tried to make himself big and I think he followed through; there was definitely contact.

"I was surprised to see the red card but if I'm honest, it happened quickly and I'd have to see it again."