THE relief felt among the home crowd at the One Call Stadium at the final whistle was palpable.

Having been second best in the first half and seemingly destined for defeat, Colchester United's determination almost rescued them a point against their in-form hosts Mansfield Town.

And that kind of character so evident so far under Wayne Brown's interim spell in charge bodes well for the rest of the campaign.

When Alan Judge's precise free-kick flew into the far top corner of the net deep into stoppage-time, the U's were already 2-0 down.

But it gave gutsy Colchester hope that they might rescue a point and prompted some pretty desperate defending from the hosts.

In the end, it was too little, too late for the visitors.

But as they had previously recently shown against Swindon Town under Brown, this is now a side who will keep going until the end and never give up.

And that is a trait that could be vitally important for them, in the 17 games that remain between now and the end of the League Two season.

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The fact is that they stayed in the game against a Mansfield side who are now ten unbeaten and at times, threatened to run away with it before half-time.

Rhys Oates had given the Stags a 19th-minute lead with a fine strike, although the U's will be disappointed with the way they defended for the goal.

Brown described it as naivety; Oates was allowed to run from inside his own half without a meaningful challenge being made, before firing home.

Only two excellent saves from U's goalkeeper Sam Hornby - along with John-Joe O'Toole's profligacy from a close-range free-kick - prevented Colchester from falling further behind.

Brown made his feelings known at half-time and a few home truths were spoken, in the Colchester changing room.

He also changed things around at the break, taking off winger Luke Hannant, sending on defender Tom Eastman and switching to three at the back with wing-backs.

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It worked well and the U's were a different force in the second half, with Freddie Sears firing into the side netting.

That it took Mansfield until two minutes into stoppage-time to give themselves some breathing space through Jordan Bowery's penalty said much about Colchester's improvement, after the break.

And even then, the contest was not completely over.

This Colchester side are showing that they will never give up and Judge's excellent strike in the seventh minute of time added on gave them renewed hope.

In the end, it wasn't to be and the U's four-game unbeaten run under Brown came to an end.

But while they will be disappointed with the defeat, they can console themselves with the fact that in the end, they had their promotion-chasing hosts hanging on at the end for a ninth successive home league victory.

Colchester now lie five points above the relegation zone, their buffer between themselves and the bottom two cut by three points after Oldham Athletic's 2-1 victory over Bristol Rovers.

The U's must once again pick themselves up quickly, with a crucial home game against 22nd-placed Carlisle United - who sit three points below them in the table - next up at the JobServe Community Stadium on Saturday.

But the spirit that Colchester showed in going right until the end at Mansfield bodes well for the remainder of the season.