Goals from Taylor Richards and a decisive second nine minutes from time from the Irish defender kept up the side’s perfect record in the Leasing.com Trophy so far this term, and O’Hora reflected on a good night all round.
He said, “It’s a good evening for me, the clean sheet is pleasing personally and good for the team as well, because we always knew we had the quality upfront to score goals.
“It’s a step up and it’s more physical than the under-23 league, which is good for us. We'll learn a lot from last night and these games are always experiences which we look forward to.
“As a team we dealt with their physical threat well and stayed focused throughout to get another good victory.”
Simon Rusk’s men came into the contest in Essex off the back of a 4-1 home victory over Tottenham Hotspur last week, and the team fielded against the League One side included a number of faces who also plied their trade for Graham Potter’s first team seven days earlier in the Carabao Cup. O’Hora spoke about the motivation it gives to the group to see their fellow teammates making the step up into the senior squad.
“Friday was an impressive performance too, we knew it wouldn’t be easy, but to come from a goal down like we did against Tottenham shows the resilience this group has,” he continued.
“There have been a few from the group that have got themselves into the first team frame, and that’s great for us, it’s what we’re all here for.
“We all want to make that step up, the head coach gave lots of debuts against Aston Villa and that gives us all hope – it shows the trust that the club has and that there’s a pathway for us.”