TONY Mowbray believes his side were deserved winners at Colchester United and he praised the performance of winger Jacob Murphy who bagged a brace as the Sky Blues moved joint top of League One.
Despite being without the likes of loan duo Adam Armstrong and Ryan Kent, Mowbray’s side were able to record their third consecutive league win and stretch their unbeaten run in League One to nine matches.
It was the hosts who went in front through Macauley Bonne who turned Callum Harriott’s left-wing cross past Reice Charles-Cook.
And Colchester were unlucky not to have gone 2-0 ahead when Marvin Sordell struck the post soon after.
Mowbray’s side were back on level terms shortly after the half-hour mark thanks to a low shot from Murphy insde the area and the winger, on loan from Norwich, put the Sky Blues in front after showing great composure to round Jamie Jones and slide the ball into an empty net.
After the break an error by Jones allowed Fortune to score his second goal for the club with an easy close range finish to wrap up the Sky Blues’ fourth win on the road this season.
“It’s the next three points for us,” said Mowbray. “It was a professional performance and we thoroughly deserved the victory.
“It is a difficult place to come, they’ve got some really good footballers and they can score goals which they’ve shown on plenty of occasions.
“Disappointed to go behind but the response was brilliant and I thought from the point we scored and then went ahead, we were good value for the victory.
“Murphy stepped up to the plate. Without Armstrong and Kent, I was delighted he got his goals today and delighted for Fortune as I thought he was brilliant today.”
Mowbray also reserved praise for French duo Romain Vincelot and Marc Antoine Fortune in light of recent events in Paris.
He added: “I’d have to say it was a difficult morning for the two French lads. They were obviously in touch with their families overnight and Fortune’s relatives were at the game.
“I wanted to check whether they were good to play and they were determined to do so. Romain and Marc both showed a terrific mentality.
“Fortune led the line really well and we’ve done a lot of work with him this week about stretching defenders and running in behind to make life difficult for them.”
