TODAY is the sixth anniversary of Colchester United's Great Escape.

On May 3, 2015, the U's beat promotion-chasing Preston North End 1-0 on a dramatic day at the JobServe Community Stadium to stay in League One - against all the odds.

George Moncur's 82nd-minute strike gave Colchester victory, helping them clamber out of the relegation zone.

Colchester knew that they needed to not only beat Preston - who had gone 18 matches unbeaten and knew a win would secure them automatic promotion to the Championship - but also hope three other results went their way.

Tony Humes' side produced a superb performance but for a while, it looked like their season would end in disappointment after Chris Porter missed a penalty.

But with eight minutes to go, George Moncur popped up to score a dramatic winner for the U's and keep them up in the most dramatic of circumstances, sending the majority of the 8,413 crowd into raptures.

Halstead Gazette:

Humes said: "Credit to the players, they were brilliant against a really good team and it's just amazing.

"We just kept going and going, stuck to what we believed in and ultimately got the reward.

"I was surprised when the referee gave the penalty but the miss didn't prove important in the end. George Moncur has lots of quality and has that ability to stroke the ball into the net.

"We didn't get any notice of what was going on elsewhere until we scored and these players will only grow from this."

Moncur described his side’s last-day survival as “unreal” after scoring their precious winner eight minutes from time.

But for a while, with the match goal-less and other results going again them, the club were heading down.

“It’s unreal,” said a euphoric Moncur.

“There’s nothing better than this feeling.

“We made it hard for ourselves but justice was done in the end, because we didn’t deserve to go down.

“It’s a feeling a relief, celebration and just every other emotion at the moment.

“Both teams were a bit edgy in the first half.

“There wasn’t much happening, but when the game opened up a bit we started getting more chances and thankfully I scored our goal.

“Chris (Porter) played the ball back to me, on my right foot, and I still had a bit to do.

“But I kept my eye on it and managed to slot it into the corner.

“To get to the next level, I need to add more goals to my game.

“I know I’m decent on the ball, but it’s about timing my runs, arriving at the right time and trying to get my name on the score-sheet more often.

“After the goal we really had to concentrate, but when you hear people signing you kind of know you’re safe.

“We just had to keep our heads switched on and see the game out.”