Colchester 1 Stoke City 3

Last updated : 06 March 2002 By Sports.com

Promotion-chasing Stoke City gave Colchester United a lesson in finishing when stealing a 3-1 away victory that they hardly deserved at Layer Road.

Colchester, without a win at home since January 5th, had plenty of chances to dent Stoke's bid for an automatic promotion slot, but they were denied by some smart goalkeeping from Neil Cutler and some well-taken goals.

Colchester dominated in the first half, and yet still found themselves trailing by two goals at the break.

Icelandic midfielder Bjarni Gudjonsson blasted Stoke ahead with a spectacular 35-yarder in the 42nd minute which flew into the top corner.

Then in the last minute of the half, Deon Burton scored his first goal for Stoke when finding the target with a delightful header following a pinpoint cross from Wayne Thomas.

Colchester had earlier been thwarted by an excellent save from Cutler, when he somehow managed to beat away a header from Mick Stockwell at point-blank range following a corner from Karl Duguid.

United neded to score early in the second half to give themselves a chance of mounting a late rally. Duguid gave them just that on 55 minutes, when ramming home Graham Barrett's cross with a delightful first-time finish.

Colchester poured forward in search of an equaliser, and Cutler performed heroics to palm away a header from Graham Barrett which looked a certain goal.

Burton made the game safe for Stoke on 80 minutes, when latching onto a pass from Clive Clarke and slipping the ball home under the body of keeper Simon Brown. Burton appeared to be standing in an offside position, but the goal was allowed to stand.

Colchester manager Steve Whitton said: "I have nothing but praise for my players, but sometimes you don't get what you deserve in football.

"We dominated one of the best teams in the division, but things are just not falling for us at the moment. All Stoke's goals came from half-chances, and it was not a case of bad defending on our part.

"We will not be changing our style and there is no need to panic" added Whitton.

Colchester have now failed to win at home in six home matches, and still need to pick up a few points to guarantee second division football next season.

Stoke, meanwhile, will be gunning for a top-two place during the last couple of months of the campaign