Wrexham 2-1 Colchester United - Evans sent off, but hosts too strong

This was Wrexham co-owner Ryan Reynolds' reaction to Elliot Lee's opening goal

Ten-man Wrexham's promotion push continued as they added to struggling Colchester United's troubles.

Elliot Lee fired home from close range in the fourth minute, but before the half was up, the hosts were down a man.

George Evans was shown a straight red for a challenge on midfield opponent Arthur Read.

Zach Mitchell's own goal doubled the hosts' lead, but the spirited visitors hit back late on through Jayden Fevrier.

Despite victory Wrexham dropped a place to third in the table as Barrow went above them on goal difference thanks to a 3-0 at Swindon Town while Colchester remain a place off the relegation zone.

Wrexham next host Newport County in a highly-anticipated Welsh derby on Saturday, 23 December while Colchester host Salford the previous evening.

Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson said: "That's a colossus effort from the lads and I'm very proud of the performance today.

"We got the early goal and then the sending off. Colchester have got some very good technical players and some dangerous players in and around the box. First half from the sending off I thought we sat a bit deep and we didn't engage in our own final third or the middle.

"We were good enough to make passes in the game and I feel we did that really well in the second period. It's a real effort from the lads today, throughout the season you get so many different types of games and challenges and today was a different problem for us to solve and I thought we did it really well."