Colchester's on-loan Charlton defender Zach Mitchell's joy

And the 18-year-old defender says the U’s must now use the victory as a springboard, over the busy festive period.

Mitchell was impressive as Colchester ended a five-match losing streak with a 2-1 triumph over the Ammies, thanks to goals from Joe Taylor and Chay Cooper.

It lifted the U’s seven points above the League Two relegation zone and on-loan Charlton Athletic defender Mitchell says it was the ideal boost, ahead of the visit to MK Dons on Boxing Day.

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Mitchell said: “The win is going to make the holidays that bit better I think.

“It was a nice Christmas present and a win to take into the next game, where we need to use it as momentum and keep doing the right things.

“We’ve faced some adversity in the last few weeks and the overriding feeling is joy for myself but for the team as well and it was definitely needed.

“We definitely deserved that win, thinking back to the likes of the Sutton game where we conceded late.

“I was delighted to get man of the match but I was happy for the team in general and the staff.

“We’ve had it hard for the last couple of weeks.

“We have three games in a week so we need to recover well and keep pushing on.”

Colchester had to withstand a late push from Salford to claim the win, following Conor McAleny’s superb stoppage-time strike.

U’s goalkeeper Owen Goodman made a smart stop to deny Matt Smith in stoppage-time, as the hosts claimed a first league win since November 7.

“Digging deep is a big part of what League Two is,” said Mitchell, who has made 23 appearances for the U’s, this season.

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“We were gutted to concede that goal because we wanted to keep the clean sheet but we all stuck together throughout the game.

“Football can be stressful sometimes for fans for ourselves but we showed the togetherness of the team.

“When they bring on the likes of Matt Smith, we know that there are going to be balls flooded into the box but luckily, we prevailed.

“Owen (Goodman) saved us on three clearcut occasions where he kept us in it.

“That’s sometimes what you need and I’m incredibly grateful to have him here today.”

Mitchell has had several defensive partners this season and it was the case again against Salford, where he started alongside skipper Connor Hall who was replaced by fellow returnee Tom Dallison just before the hour.

Mitchell added: “We knew coming into the game that there was probably going to be some changes, with people coming back from injury.

“Congratulations to all of the players that came back – they all contributed heavily to the game.”