Joe Dunne hailed his Colchester United players' character after they recovered a two-goal deficit to draw 2-2 with Bristol City.

Goals from Gavin Massey and substitute Freddie Sears helped the U's secure a point against the Robins, who had been 2-0 up.

And Colchester might have even snatched all three points, with Jabo Ibehre and substitute Tosin Olufemi both coming close to winning it for the U's late on.

Dunne said: “I’m very proud of the players after that.

“I’m pleased for them, because it’s a fantastic result in the circumstances.

“I thought the performance was good as well and we were unlucky to be 2-0 down.

“It was a very close game and there wasn’t too much in it.

“We conceded a sloppy goal in the first 15 minutes and it was a difficult game after that.

“But we showed great character to stay in the game and we talked at half-time about how we wanted to go out and play.

“I thought in the second half we started OK – we were doing the attacking and their goal came against the run of play.

“But what tremendous character to come back and in the end, I thought there was only team that was going to win it."

For five pages of coverage of the U's 2-2 draw with Bristol City, see Monday's Daily Gazette.