COLCHESTER United striker Samson Tovide says providing the assist for Lyle Taylor’s dramatic late equaliser at Barrow almost felt as good as scoring himself.

Tovide stepped off the bench to provide the pass for Taylor’s stoppage-time strike in the 1-1 draw at Holker Street, after returning from a three-week injury lay-off.

The 20-year-old did brilliantly to hold off Bluebirds defender Theo Vassell before squaring the ball for Taylor to sweep home.

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Tovide has provided assists for four of Taylor’s five goals for Colchester so far this season and the talented young forward says it was a good feeling to play his part in his side’s equaliser.

Tovide said: “An assist like that almost feels as good as scoring a goal yourself, especially when it comes so late in the game.

“I’ve played against Theo a couple of times before – for him it’s always an ego thing when he plays against me and I knew he’d try and come full force, for a 50-50 shoulder barge.

“I let him do that and stayed out of that one, for once!

“I thought ‘let him do that’, got the ball and I knew Lyle was going to be there.

(Image: RICHARD BLAXALL)

“I thought about going for a goal but then I realised that the angle was probably a bit too tight and thought ‘we’re away from home, let’s just make sure we leave with a point’.”

Tovide’s appearance as a second-half substitute at Barrow was his first appearance for Colchester since suffering a hip flexor injury in their home defeat to Cheltenham Town, on October 19.

It was something of a surprise return for the young striker, who had initially been expected to be sidelined for a considerably longer period of time.

“It was a bit of a weird one because when I got the injury, I actually felt quite good on the Monday after,” said Tovide.

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“I had a scan which said I had a little tear in my hip but over the last two weeks, I’ve not felt any pain and the plan was to slowly ease me back into it.

“I did a tiny bit in the week and played a little bit (at Barrow).

“The plan was for me to come on around the 65th minute and try and change the game, which is what I did.

“When you’re on the bench, you kind of have a little bit of an advantage as you’re able to see the type of game you’re coming into, the type of players you’re coming up against.”

(Image: RICHARD BLAXALL)

Tovide is hoping to help Colchester build on their point at Barrow in their back-to-back home games, in the coming days.

The U’s host Arsenal under-21s in their final Bristol Street Motors Trophy group game on Tuesday night, before welcoming Bradford City for a League Two clash, on Saturday.

Tovide added: “We’ve got the game against Arsenal under-21s on Tuesday which we want to win and get out of the group and then it’s onto Saturday against Bradford.

“It’ll be a tough test but we’re at home and we’ll be looking to get the win.

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“We’ve been resilient away from home, with the results at Port Vale, Chesterfield and now Barrow.

“Hopefully now we can turn these draws into wins.

“In all of the away games we’ve had this season, we haven’t given up and one thing about the boys is that we keep going until the end.

“I thought we started the Barrow game alright and had the early chance from JK (Gordon).

“Going a goal down didn’t really help us but I thought we stayed in it, still defended well, did our bits and got our reward in the end.”