Samson Tovide has scored seven league goals for Colchester this season
Colchester United continued their late push for the League Two play-offs as new dad Fiacre Kelleher headed in a late winner against fellow promotion hopefuls Port Vale.
A fine Samson Tovide solo effort handed the home side the lead in the 34th minute with the forward also having a header saved by visiting goalkeeper Ben Amos.
Tovide failed to emerge for the second half with leading scorer Lyle Taylor replacing him and playing a key role in what proved to be the winning goal.
Port Vale saw Connor Hall have a shot cleared off the line against his former club before substitute Rico Richards levelled with six minutes remaining only for Kelleher to head home the winner just two minutes later from Taylor's free-kick.
With both sides sporting 11-game unbeaten runs a tight affair was expected as Colchester chased down an unlikely top-seven finish while Port Vale were looking to consolidate their position in the play-off places having been top of the table at the start of December.
Colchester were almost in front inside the opening 60 seconds as Tovide found space in the 18-yard area but lashed his shot straight at Amos.
Lorent Tolaj wasted a good chance for the visitors after five minutes when shooting wide before two errors from home defender Tom Flanagan handed opportunities to Ronan Curtis and Kyle John only for both to shoot weakly at Matt Macey.
It took a moment of brilliance to break the deadlock on 34 minutes with sought-after striker Tovide bursting away from defender Nathan Smith on the halfway line and slotting past Amos from a narrow angle.
Stung by the threat of a first away league defeat since the end of December Port Vale pushed hard for the equaliser as first former Colchester captain Hall had an effort cleared off the line by Kelleher and then Ronan Curtis flashed a shot across the face of goal.
Frustration turned to elation for the visitors six minutes from the end as, just seconds after Colchester had penalty appeals waved away by referee Aaron Bannister, substitute Jayden Stockley nodded down for fellow replacement Richards to finish from close range.
That might have been enough for both teams to extend their respective unbeaten records to a dozen games but the home side struck back within two minutes of the equaliser.
Taylor had replaced Tovide at the interval and whipped in a free-kick for Kelleher to get on the end of and, having become a father to a baby boy on Sunday, complete a memorable few days by heading past Amos.
There might still have been a sting in the tail as, in the ninth and final minute of time added on, Curtis found space on the edge of the home box and rifled a shot against the crossbar.
Colchester boss Danny Cowley told BBC Sport:
"It's a win which showed great character and great resilience.
"When you play five games in 14 days it's never easy - I've told the lads they can celebrate for 30 minutes before we turn our focus to recovering and focusing on an important game on Saturday."
On Samson Tovide's goal:
"I did look up at Robbie (Cowling, owner) when he scored and I think he had his calculator out putting extra zeros on his transfer fee.
"You see the gas to break away from the defender and the quality of the finish - it was a great goal."
Port Vale head coach Darren Moore told BBC Radio Stoke:
"We're obviously disappointed to work so hard to get back into the game and then give it away, in that way.
"The [first] goal has just come from the boy's [Tovide) tremendous physicality.
"It was a bitty, scrappy game and both teams couldn't get to grips with it.
"We worked incredibly hard to get back into it.
"We fell to another goal minutes after, having worked so hard to get back into the game and from our point of view, that's a disappointment."
Danny Cowley praises 'resilient' Colchester
