PENALTY hero Elliott Parish says Colchester United’s upturn in form has given them a new-found confidence as they battle against relegation.

The U’s impressive 1-0 triumph at Coventry City secured them back-to-back league wins for the first time since September and lifted them to within seven points of safety in League One, with seven matches remaining.

Kevin Keen’s side host play-off-chasing Millwall on Saturday hoping to continue their improved fortunes and after his penalty save at the Ricoh Arena, goalkeeper Parish insists they are feeling positive.

He said: “We’re confident and we do believe we can stay up.

“I’ve said many times how optimistic I can – yes, it’s an uphill battle but you never know.

“We went on a great winning run at the start of the season so we’re more than capable of doing that – I believe that we’re a better team now than then.

“You can see the attitude of everyone – everyone is in it together and we’re a different side now, in terms of confidence.

“We’ll go into the Millwall game to win - they’re going well and so are we now, so bring it on.”

Parish has revealed some input for Colchester goalkeeper coach Ademola Bankole played its part in his penalty save at Coventry.

The shot-stopper made a fine stop to deny ex-Colchester loanee Jacob Murphy from the spot and help his side claim an important win.

“I was at Blackpool with Jacob Murphy before he came to Colchester and I remember saving a couple of penalties in training against him,” said the former Aston Villa youngster.

“I had an idea where to go before he struck it and I had a look at his run up.

“The goalkeeper coach has helped me a lot as well, with regard to his knowledge of Jacob.

“I guess the penalty save was huge coming just before half-time and you don’t want those going in.

“But I only had two shots to save and we saw the game out brilliantly.

“This season, we haven’t been able to do that for 90 minutes so it was good to do that and build on the second half against Doncaster, so it’s really positive at the moment.

“The clean sheet is massive for me – I think it’s only the third of the season for me and it’s not enough.

“Everyone knows that we’ve had a rough season at the back as a defensive unit and as a team, so the more of these clean sheets we can get the better.”