Omer Riza felt his Under-23 side should have marked Richard Shaw's first game as assistant manager with a win after they were pegged back twice at Colchester United.

Shaw, 52, has been recruited to fill the void left by Hayden Mullins, who departed after being presented with a first-team football opportunity with the U's, and to provide support to the promoted Riza who made the step up from assistant to lead the team at the apex of the Academy.

“It's nice to have Richard in,” said Riza. “He's been in for 10 days or so now, we get on well and he's got a great understanding of the game. He was a defender by trade and I was an attacker so we've got a nice balance between us. It's a good mix and it's great to have someone in the building who has played more than 500 games and coached at this level. He knows his stuff.”

Shaw looked on as Dom Hutchinson gave the visitors the lead from a free-kick to make it two in as many Professional Development League games for the teenage striker. Josh Bohui then pulled the home side level before the break with a goal Riza felt his side should have done better from.

The Hornets went ahead again when Toby Stevenson, the captain up from left-back, scored with his sweet left foot after a purposeful run from JJ McKiernan, the Northern Ireland youth international. However, again the visitors couldn't hang onto their lead, this time the aggressive striker on trial for the home side levelling things up just two minutes later.

“We should have won the game,” said Riza. “We needed to be better in the final third and then make sure we keep our focus for 90 minutes. You can't switch off defensively. But there are lots of positives from the game. Shaq Forde did well after coming on as a sub; so did Kamil Conteh while it was good to see Derek Agyakwa back from his loan spell in Italy.

“I was particularly pleased with Jack Burchell. He was dominant in possession and very calm and collected about what he did in the middle of midfield. We then moved him back to centre-half so Kamil could give us some legs in midfield and Jack then enabled us to build from the back as he's good on the ball. I think he'll end up being a holding midfielder as he reads the game really well, gets on the ball and can make things happen. We just need to work on his strength and power.”