Boss John Ward was pleased with Colchester's response to the club-record home defeat to Stevenage as they saw off Exeter.
Goals from Anthony Wordsworth and Andy Bond gave the Us victory over the Grecians, who had Danny Coles sent off for denying a goalscoring opportunity.
Ward was happy with his team's display, which came four days after that spectacular drubbing. He said: "It was a very good performance. We've taken our criticism and we've accepted it, because it was right.
"The only way to answer it and the best way to answer it is by doing what we've done. We've had 3,500 people come here to want to support the team and they come here every week and want to see the team do well.
"We worked exceptionally hard against a good Exeter side who can pass the ball around, regardless of their league position. We've put in a really good effort and we've kept a clean sheet.
"The attitude of everyone has been absolutely first class. We owed that to ourselves first and foremost but, close behind that, we owed it to the 3,500 people who came to support us today because I'm pretty sure the majority of those people were here for the Stevenage game and were as disappointed as I was."
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