Colchester came through their toughest game of the season with an awesome display of water polo to beat Hornchurch 9-8.

Colchester were missing both specialist keepers so it was up to captain David Nicholson to take on goal keeping responsibilities.

Nicholson was shaky at times, as he stood up to the power and accuracy of Hornchurch's ex-GB front man but made some extremely important saves throughout the game.

The first quarter ended 3-3 with Colchester taking the game to the visitors.

Simon Nicholson used his power and strength to open the scoring and Simon Lecomber finished off two good moves.

Hornchurch always had a reply and the match remained even.

A tactical change was made at the beginning of the second quarter as Chris Harrington came in to replace attacker Simon Nicholson.

His impact was immediate, scoring after a Craig Snowdon shot rebounded off the post.

Harrington almost scored a second with a snap shot which followed some very slick passing.

Hornchurch continued to stretch the Colchester defence which was being marshalled by the impressive Eddie Corcos and the ever present Martin Vinter.

The quarter ended 5-5 with Lecomber scoring again.

The third quarter was tighter still.

The introduction of Richard Horrocks helped to steady the defence and Snowdon was sent up to help James Tomlinson and Lecomber in attack.

Snowdon and Lecomber had plenty of chances to put Colchester further ahead but couldn't capitalise on the hard work from Tomlinson keeping the ball in the Hornchurch half.

Lecomber scored his fourth of the game as the quarter finished 6-6.

As the fourth quarter began Simon Nicholson was reintroduced into the game.

Hornchurch started to find some rhythm and soon took a two-goal lead for the first time in the match.

Colchester did well to shake the two goal deficit off.

Corcos ventured forward for the first time in the game and after shaking off his marker finished neatly.

Not long after, Tomlinson was fouled yards from the Hornchurch goal.

As the Hornchurch keeper berated the ref quick thinking Simon Nicholson called for the ball and placed it into the empty Hornchurch goal.

The keeper was swiftly ejected from the pool for complaining further as the officials tightened their control on proceedings.

As the seconds to the final whistle ticked away Colchester looked to capitalise on their one-man advantage.

Snowdon and Simon Nicholson passed the ball between each other neatly before Vinter was found.

Vinter picked up the ball and rattled it into the back of the net with the last attack of the match.

Colchetser battled hard and proved that their current form is a product of their natural ability and new hard working ethic.

The team put in a fantastic performance but it was defender Martin Vinter who was singled out for special attention as he was named man-of-the-match.

Colchester now have a week to recover before they embark on their annual trip to Holland to play in one of Europe's largest water polo tournaments.