COLCHESTER United head coach John McGreal has praised the 'brilliant' support of the club's travelling fans who made the long trip up to Morecambe.

The U's were cheered on by 100 of their supporters at the Globe Arena, as they saw their team play out a 1-1 draw in difficult weather conditions.

Colchester's supporters were up at the crack of the dawn to leave Essex and make the near 600-mile trip up to Lancashire for the League Two clash.

And they made themselves heard during the 90 minutes, as they cheered Colchester on from the stands.

McGreal said: "It was a brilliant effort by the fans and I'm so gutted for them.

"We know ourselves how long the journey is and also with part of the M6 being closed, too.

"It's a nightmare for them coming all this way and they've shown great support there.

"The drum was banging away and it's a shame we couldn't get that win for them.

"We need to improve on that last half-hour performance especially, because there were too many turnovers.

"We gave them too many opportunities to put the ball into our defensive third."

Meanwhile, McGreal admits it was 'unfortunate' to have to take Luke Gambin off against Morecambe - 14 minutes after the attacker had come on as a substitute.

The U's boss had to shuffle the pack after right-back Ryan Jackson picked up a second yellow card and was sent off with seven minutes of scheduled time remaining.

McGreal replaced Gambin with Tom Lapslie who filled in at right-back and the U's boss says he was left with a difficult scenario.

"Gams is unhappy but I can't put him at right-back," said McGreal.

"I can't put Benji (Ben Stevenson) or whoever in that right-back position.

"The natural one to put in that position is Laps (Tom Lapslie).

"It's unfortunate but it happens up and down the country when the subs get made and then within two or three minutes, there's a red card.

"You have to then fill in with what you've got because there's still with the conditions and the pitch a big chunk of the game to go."