Colchester United head coach Hayden Mullins praised Armando Dobra’s second goal for the U’s as the North Essex side beat Scunthorpe 2-1 at the JobServe Community Stadium on Saturday, while Swindon manager Ben Garner felt that on-loan Town striker Tyreece Simpson was denied a hat-trick by poor officiating as the Robins defeated Oldham Athletic 3-1 at Boundary Park.
Albanian U21 international Dobra, 20, on loan with the League Two U’s for the season, netted in the 14th minute to put Colchester 2-0 in front, former Town striker Freddie Sears having given them the lead in the fifth minute with his fifth goal of the campaign. Harry Davis pulled one back for the Iron on 82.
"Armando’s goal was a fantastic finish and it was a great start to the game,” Mullins told the Colchester Gazette.
"I thought he’d scored the first goal to be honest with you. But I asked him and he was quite honest and said it was Freddie’s goal — I’m not sure Freddie would have been so honest!
"He’s such a good little dribbler that you want to really try and isolate him, one v one. We asked him to stay really wide and try and get ball wide and try and give their full-backs a horrible time.
"I think Dobs coming inside and finishing how he did was fantastic. If Sylv [Sylvester Jasper’s] shot that hit the bar had dropped in under the crossbar, it would have been fantastic for him.
"Sylv and Dobs are two bright young players and it’s just a shame that Sylv blew up a little bit in the second half but that’s just game time and he’ll get more of that. It was fantastic from those two lads today.”
Simpson netted his fifth and sixth goals of his season-long loan with Swindon on 79 and 90 but might have had a third with a tap-in between the two having been controversially ruled out.
"I can’t understand how a linesman on the opposite side has disallowed it for the ball going out of play. I’ve seen it again, it’s not even close to going out of play,” Garner told the Swindon Advertiser.
"He’s just robbed a 19-year-old of his first senior hat-trick, which is disappointing, but I’m really pleased for Tyreece to get the two.
"It would have been nice to make it a bit easier than it was in the end, it should never have been that close, and we need to learn from that going forward. But overall, it was very pleasing.”
Simpson himself added: "One got disallowed which probably shouldn't have happened, but we had a few chances and overall it was a good performance.
"It was a bit of a baggy touch for my first goal, I'm not going to lie, but I saw the defender, I strengthened him out the way and then put it in with my right foot.
"I felt like I could have had a lot more so on the second one I just drove at the defender, he gave me a bit of space which was a bit silly and then I buried it into the top corner.
"We should have put the game to bed earlier, we made it hard for ourselves at times but it was good to put the game to bed.”
Meanwhile, keeper Tomas Holy kept a clean sheet as Cambridge beat AFC Wimbledon 1-0 at the Abbey Stadium, the second of two appearances during his seven-day emergency loan spell.
Elsewhere, striker Aaron Drinan, who left Town in the summer, scored a hat-trick as Leyton Orient thrashed Hartlepool 5-0 at Brisbane Road yesterday. The 23-year-old has now scored seven times this season.