John Ward heralded his Colchester United side's “powerful” performance, following their 1-0 win at Bristol Rovers tonight.

Kayode Odejayi's first-half strike proved the difference between the two sides at the Memorial Stadium.

But the U's might have had more goals, as boss Ward secured victory at his former club to leave Colchester just four points off the play-off places.

Ward said: “We wanted more goals out of it but we played very similar to that on Saturday (at Plymouth Argyle) and not won the game.

“People get clouded by results and think that things aren't going well but we've been strong tonight and we've been powerful.

“Sometimes we didn't play the prettiest of stuff but we got forward enough and we restricted them to six shots at goal and that was a really good effort.”

Ward had special words of praise for former Bristol City striker Odejayi, who scored his first Colchester goal in more than three months.

Ward said: “Kayode has played in Bristol and he was determined to do well.

“He led the line extremely well and we gave them problems.

“He had a strong determination; he's been playing well recently and not found the goal so I'm really pleased for him.”

Ward was also delighted to see midfielder John-Joe O'Toole return to first-team action, following a ten-month injury lay-off.

O'Toole came on as a substitute for the final 12 minutes to taste his first senior game time since suffering a cruciate ligament injury against Charlton Athletic, last April.

“It was brilliant to see John-Joe back in,” added Ward.

“It wasn't a gamble; we needed his power back in there.

“I had brought him down here to train rather than play but I watched him train for three days and thought that 20 minutes from him tonight would be appropriate.

“It worked out that way and to have someone like him around, particularly away from home, was great for us.”

See Wednesday's Gazette for a full match report and pictures from Colchester's win at Bristol Rovers.