Micky Mellon praised the ‘guts and determination’ of his Tranmere Rovers side following their 2-0 home win over Colchester United.

Rovers led from the fourth minute at Prenton Park, with Josh Hawkes side-footing home a volley at the far post after Kane Hemmings had beaten Ryan Clampin down the right and crossed.

And Tranmere sealed their 2-0 win in the 83rd minute when Jake Burton sent a downward header from fellow substitute Paul Lewis’s cross past Colchester keeper Kieran O’Hara.

Mellon was delighted with his players’ efforts on the back of their energy-sapping Carabao Cup tie against Premier League side Newcastle United on Wednesday.

He said: “I don’t think it’s time for me to talk about anything technical. It’s about sheer guts, determination and every credit to the players.

“It’s been two tough shifts, coming off the back of an emotional and physical game on Wednesday.

“The same players have gone again and the boys that have come off the bench have helped us to keep moving forward.

“They deserve what they’re going to get and that’s a right good rest, physically and mentally, because we’re at the bare bones now.

“Only credit to the players and credit to the supporters who really got behind us and drove us on, kept us going forward.

“It was a really big effort from everybody today, fans and players, staff and it was an important win for us.

“We knew that we had to get a win, a result and to get a clean sheet, we’re obviously delighted.

“Now we need to get a well-earned rest.”

The closest Colchester came to scoring was when Frank Nouble’s close-range effort was blocked by defender Neill Byrne, in the first half.

Colchester boss Wayne Brown said: “I’ve got mixed emotions really.

“I thought we identified in the early stages where we were going to get our success, where the space was going to be.

“I thought the intent from the lads was to go out and execute those instructions and I thought for spells of the game we did.

“Our retention of the ball was a lot better today into wide areas which are the areas we identified to get our success.

“We had four really good chances in the first half and that was the difference – they’ve put two of their chances away, one of which was in the first half, one of which was in the second half.

“They made it into our box five times in the second half and scored from one of them.

“We had lots of possession but for all of that, we probably didn’t really create enough in the second half.”