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You just can’t keep a star striker down for long, can you? Unable to find the target in the rousing opening-day win over Tranmere, the irrepressible Lee Trundle didn’t need much longer to find his way back onto the scoresheet as he struck the goal that continued Swansea’s dream start to life in League One.
Adrian Forbes had put the Swans in front on 35 minutes before Colchester hit back through Greg Halford in the 67th minute.
But Trundle – 23 goals last season and now up and running this year – restored Swansea’s advantage just 60 seconds later with a beautiful toe-poke past keeper Aidan Davison.
Two games down and two victories – it’s easy this League One lark, isn’t it? Well not quite.
As with the gutsy performance that yielded a 1-0 win over Tranmere, Swansea had to scrap and fight for the three points again last night.
There was more superb defending from the visitors, who edged in front despite having spent much of the first 30 minutes being pushed backwards as Colchester hogged most of the early possession.
Alan Tate, in from the start for the injured Garry Monk, found Adebayo Akinfenwa from a throw-in and the impressive Forbes converted the striker’s flick-on with a looping 10-yard header.
Colchester gained a deserved equaliser on 67 minutes when Halford drove home a rebound after Willy Gueret had saved an initial shot from Sam Stockley.
But Trundle – who else? – was to have the last laugh.
Whereas Swansea had rung in the new season with that impressive victory over Tranmere, Colchester were looking to recover from a spluttering opening-day defeat at Gillingham.
There were more contrasts to observe in Essex. United’s antiquated Layer Road ground provided an early reminder of the Vetch Field home Swansea departed at the end of last season.
Compact and with a smaller pitch, it was a notably more cramped environment than the smart and spacious surroundings the Swans have been enjoying at their new Morfa residence.
Still, if Swansea are to prosper in League One this season, it is very much this kind of bread-and-butter test that they’ll need to have the stomach for.
Tranmere provided the Swans with a pretty brutal introduction to League One life on Saturday and it soon became clear Colchester weren’t going to give them an easy ride either.
The home side, enjoying the bulk of early possession, stubbornly refused to let Swansea get into a rhythm.
Whenever a Swans player ventured into opposition territory, a blue and white shirt was quickly bearing down to dispossess them. Colchester had several early glimpses of Willy Gueret’s goal, Kemi Izzet going close with a speculative 30-yard lob and Chris Iwelumo spinning a header inches wide inside the opening 20 minutes.
But the Swans – just as they had done for long periods of the Tranmere game – defended resolutely, refusing to buckle under the sustained pressure Colchester were exerting.
And their hard work was to pay off at the other end as Forbes opened his account for the 2005-06 campaign after Swansea had finally managed to settle on the ball.
There was more to come, Marc Goodfellow forcing a fine save from Aidan Davison on 40 minutes with his weaker right foot.
Then Forbes put the ball into the back of the net for a second time, only to see the goal disallowed when referee Jarnail Singh – despite bizarrely pointing towards the halfway line – ruled that Akinfenwa had impeded Davison.
Colchester tried to respond in kind, hustling their way forward and edging closer to the target when Izzet brought a diving save from Gueret with a sweeping 25-yard drive.
The Swans keeper held his breath again four minutes after the interval when Halford shaved the crossbar with a rasping 20-yard free-kick.
Former Blackburn midfielder Neil Danns had Gueret beaten on 65 minutes, but, luckily for the Swans keeper, the piercing 25-yard drive rattled the right-hand post.
Gueret was not so lucky two minutes later. The Frenchman was able to repel Stockley’s shot from the left-hand edge of the box, but not Halford’s follow-up from the opposite side.
But Trundle would enjoy the final say. He leapt to get a head on a long punt out of defence, but the ball looped over him.
Akinfenwa, though, was well-placed to mop up and thread the ball back into Trundle’s path. The Swans striker then chauffeured the ball some 15 yards before deliciously poking the ball into the bottom left-hand corner of Davison’s goal with his left boot.
Swansea, defending desperately in the dying stages, survived a scrappy finish in which Roberto Martinez, Kris O’Leary and substitute Kevin McLeod were all cautioned.
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