Former Whaddon Road favourite Steven Gillespie showed Cheltenham just what they are missing by scoring the winning goal to condemn his old club to defeat this afternoon.

Gillespie, who left Cheltenham for Colchester in a £400,000 deal last summer, was introduced as a second-half substitute to grab the winner with a well-directed header to convert a Lewis Gobern cross.

Cheltenham were down to ten men by that point; skipper John Finnigan awarded two yellow cards to bring an end to a brief seven minute appearance after coming on as a substitute.

Martin Allen handed a debut to recent loan signing Chris Westwood and he opened the scoring by nodding home a Ian Westlake corner in the 57th minute.

Colchester were level just five minutes later when captain Dean Hammond was on hand to guide home a wicked free-kick delivery from the day's outstanding performer, Mark Yeates.

Yeates also forced Brown into a fingertip save onto the crossbar with another vicious curling effort from the edge of the box with only minutes left on the clock before adding a third in the dying stages.

Colchester United (4-4-2): Walker; Maybury, Reid, Baldwin, Jackson (White 25); Izzet, Hammond, Perkins (Gobern 66), Yeates; Vernon (Gillespie 58), Platt. Subs: Cousins, Wordsworth.

Cheltenham Town (4-3-3): Brown; Gallinagh, Ridley, Westwood, Wright; Montrose (Finnigan 65), Russell, Westlake; Vincent, Connor (Hammond 15, Owusu 74), Bignall. Subs: Puddy, Bird.