Coventry boss Chris Coleman praised his players after they came from behind to thrash sorry Colchester 5-1 at Layer Road.

City trailed at half-time - and at that point their hopes of avoiding the drop looking liked being dented by the already-relegated Essex side.

However, an astonishing revival saw them score five times in the second half to claim a crucial victory and move away from the Coca-Cola Championship relegation zone.

Coleman said after the Sky Blues' biggest victory of the season: "It was what we needed and it was what we deserved.

"We started very well and I felt the goal we conceded was offside.

"But we kept going and we came out and had a great start to the second half. The confidence went up after that and it was a great win.

"It is a big day for us but to be fair, the players were calm and we knew we had to be on the ball."

Colchester boss Geraint Williams bemoaned his side's poor defending, after they capitulated in the second half.

He admitted: "It's been the story of our season.

"We had three one-on-ones and numerous chances but we conceded five goals from them not having the chances.

"The second half started with us conceding a comedy goal and it didn't get any better after that.

"Our defending in the second half was woeful and defensively we were very, very inept."