MATT Macey has revealed that his penalty heroics for Colchester United against Reading were helped by some painstaking background work.

U’s goalkeeper Macey made two fine stops in the shoot-out to help his side triumph 4-3 on spot-kicks and dump their League One opponents out of the competition, at the first-round stage.

Macey was fully briefed by Colchester goalkeeper coach Yilmaz Aksoy on Reading’s penalty takers before to the shoot-out and the former Arsenal shot-stopper says the prior research was a big help.

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Macey said: “Naturally, we do our work.

“Yilmaz, our goalkeeper coach, has probably sat there for two or three hours doing all the work so I could chill out!

“He had it out all written out for me.

“It turns out a couple of their youngsters took penalties, so it was a guessing game for a couple of them but that’s credit to the club, the analysts that do those hours of work to get me in a position where I can make those saves.

“I’m really happy it went our way.

(Image: STEVE BRADING)

“At the end of the day, I’ve made the saves but we’ve put away four fantastic penalties.

“The young lads stepped up and that takes some real character from them and they delivered.

“That character is going to take them a long way in the game.

“Since I’ve been here over the last seven weeks, I’ve been really impressed with them, because when they get the chance they’re taking it.

“They might not have started the game but they helped us win it and that’s all you can ask.

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“I make the saves but it was a real team effort from everyone who came on the pitch.”

Colchester prevailed over Reading in the penalty shoot-out, after the first-round tie had finished 2-2 after 90 minutes.

It was the perfect way for Danny Cowley’s side to bounce back, following their 4-2 opening-day defeat at AFC Wimbledon.

“It was a great win for us and winning’s a habit,” said Macey, who joined Colchester on a two-year deal earlier this summer.

“After the disappointment of Saturday, we were itching to get back out there.

“It was perfect to have a game on the Tuesday and to win was brilliant.

(Image: STEVE BRADING)

“Cup competitions can be great, because they just build a habit.

“We were outstanding in the first half – I probably had the best seat in the house, watching that!

“It was really enjoyable.

“Naturally, they’re going to come back into the game.

“Our game is high press, it’s high energy and we’re still in the early stages of the season, so everyone’s still getting up to full match sharpness.

“Naturally, Reading are going to come back into the game and they brought on quality League One players.

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“That’s football but after 2-2, we settled down, got a foothold and got ourselves over the line and that’s what you’ve got to do, to win games of football.

“We’re never going to settle just because we won – we’ll go back over it on Thursday, pick the bones over the goals and where we could have done better.

“That’s the mentality that we have at this football club – we’re always looking to get better.

“It’s a fantastic group and there’s a lot of positivity inside which I feel like we’re also feeling from the fans and outside.

“AFC Wimbledon was a real disappointment because we felt we could go there and win and we put ourselves in a good position but good teams bounce back and we did that (against Reading), especially in the first half and we got the job done.

(Image: STEVE BRADING)

“That’ll take us a long way, this season.”

Macey and his Colchester team-mates will now be aiming to follow up their win over Reading against MK Dons in League Two, on Saturday.

He added: “We’ll fancy ourselves against anyone in this league, especially at home.

“We’ll go and put our best selves out there and we’ll be confident going into it.”