Accrington ST's Danny Cowley on Colchester United draw
Accrington ST manager Danny Cowley expressed satisfaction with his team's personality in the second half, despite a 2-2 draw against Colchester United in League Two.
The U's long wait for an opening-day win was extended to 13 years, but Rob Hunt's fortuitous second-half strike at least earned them a share of the spoils, at the Wham Stadium.
Colchester had gone in at half-time trailing 2-1, having been second best in the first half, with Charlie Caton's brace cancelling out Ellis Iandolo's headed opener for the U's.
Accrington ST 2 Colchester United 2 - match report as U's draw their opener
The visitors had been left up against it, following injuries to Teddy Bishop and then his replaced Jake Leake, before half-time.
U's boss Cowley said: "I think the first half pretty much summarised our pre-season. We've had a lot of challenges and the game created a lot of challenges.
"We were disappointed to lose Teddy so early – he picked up an overload injury in his abductor. He could have been fit for last Saturday but we held him back because he's such an important player for us and then, five minutes in he feels his hamstring, so not an easy start.
"We're a little bit light in there – we have some young ones but probably not ones that are ready to come into the fight that we have at Accrington ST. We moved Ellis in and then we moved Jake Leake to left-back.
"Jake's doing well and it looks like he's suffered a suspected dislocated shoulder. It was in the lead up to the second goal – we're a bit disappointed that it didn't get stopped at the time. It was a foul but to be honest, the referee just allowed the game to be a game of rugby really didn't he – he just didn't blow his whistle enough.
"Accrington are a really physical team, for sure and we had to try to smooth the game out – we probably didn't do that as well but the referee can help in that if you want a more free-flowing game that's pleasing on the eye."
Accrington ST 2 Colchester United 2 - as it happened
Iandolo netted Colchester's first goal of the new League Two season, heading home from Jack Payne's free-kick but the impressive Caton netted twice in quick succession to give Accrington a half-time lead.
"It was a tough first half," continued Cowley. "We were really pleased to get a set piece goal – we've been working hard on trying to be more of a threat from there. It was a great goal from Ellis for 1-0, being honest right against the run of play and from that position, we were really disappointed to find ourselves 2-1 down at half-time.
"It felt like we were playing into a strong wind, in the first half. The pitch is tight here and they play a very man-to-man, aggressive style. The ball kept coming back. We obviously had a game plan but when you lose someone of Teddy's quality and his personality to take the ball, we missed that and lost that and that meant that it was quite hard for us, in the first half.
Summer signing Paul Digby was sent on for his Colchester league debut at half-time for the injured Leake and helped his side eventually claim a draw. Cowley said: "Diggers came on and did a really good job for the team. He's an experienced player and he's able to break the game up and make the first pass. We didn't have the wind on our tail and they play with such an energy and intensity but we knew that they wouldn't be able to sustain that. Their energy and intensity drops
League standing: 12th in League Two, 1 pts, 0W-1D-0L from 1 games, recent form D. Goals this season: 2 scored, 2 conceded (0 goal difference). Title race: 2 points behind leaders Walsall. Next fixture: vs Port Vale (at home, 2027-02-27) (21st in the table).
