Lady Luck smiled brightly on Colchester United as they sealed their Second Division survival for a record fifth straight season with victory at Bournemouth.

Eyes down - U's striker Kevin Rapley (right) chases the ball in last night's 1-0 win over Bournemouth

It was celebrations all round at Layer Road today after their 1-0 win courtesy of a 62nd-minute own goal from Cherries defender Shaun Maher.

Ecstatic U's boss Steve Whitton afterwards paid tribute to his players. He said: "At last we have done it and I'm glad we have done it ourselves and not had to rely on others.

"The way we played in the first half of the season everybody was starting to talk of the promotion play-offs.

"At least this win keeps us in the division for another season. We were everybody's relegation favourites again at the start of the season and I'm very pleased to prove them all wrong for a fourth time.

"It's a nice feeling to be staying up once more, but we don't stop here. There are still three games left and nine points to play for."

Although delighted with the end result, Whitton was far from happy with his team's performance.

He said: "I was very disappointed with the way we played with the ball and the own goal was a little bit of luck that we haven't enjoyed too much of all season."

The U's boss was particularly pleased with the outstanding display of goalkeeper Simon Brown who bounced back from a personal horror show against Brighton four days earlier with a tremendous clean sheet.

Whitton said: "Simon came through with real character.

"He was questioned on a couple of the goals against Brighton, but he pulled off three or four fantastic saves to keep us in this match when Bournemouth put us under a bit of pressure.

"Simon's heroics worked wonders for us, but this result was also achieved on the back of commitment and endeavour.

"Micky Stockwell, for example, was playing his 100th game for us. He used all his guile and experience as a right-back again and he is an excellent example to all young players."

The U's youth team's vital Alliance League Cup semi-final against Walsall, scheduled to go ahead at Layer Road tonight, has now been switched to next Monday afternoon with the same 5pm kick-off

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Published Wednesday, April 3, 2002