By Will Jago

Albion boss Gus Poyet tonight praised his team's strength and resilience as they stood up to a physical Colchester United side to extend their unbeaten run to four games.

The Uruguayan was delighted with a second successive clean sheet, and told seagulls.co.uk, "I asked them the question to see if they are good enough to keep a clean sheet away from home, with two big strikers who are strong in the air, and they achieved that. I'm very proud of the way we defended.

"It was a challenge today and I'm very, very pleased for them, especially as we forced them to make changes because we dominated them.

"Its import that the players believe in themselves and the back four defended well in good positions, but also the keeper was great coming out and claiming a lot of crosses.

"At the end the players knew they had to defend but you could see they wanted to attack and go for the winner. It's an important decision because if you can't win in the 90 minutes away to Colchester you certainly don't want to lose in the last three minutes. I like that attitude, because I said when I arrived I would try to win every game.

"We made very good decisions, when to challenge for the ball and win in the air, or when to drop and bring it down and that's very important and the players are getting used to that.

"When I first arrived here it was all about competing, competing, and competing but now we are thinking about it, depending on who is in front of you and the flight on the ball."

Poyet also paid tribute to Slovakian keeper Peter Brezovan after he commanded his box throughout the game and took pressure off the back four.

"Peter is the keeper that I need and the keeper that I wanted to bring in. He's well over 6ft tall and can come for crosses, helping the defence and he makes it look easy.

"People don't understand that he comes for everything, difficult balls, and not just the easy ones. He comes for crosses that are very high and I'm very pleased for him. He's a great lad to have around.

"He is also very happy at the club. It's great for the defence and the club, because losing Michel Kuipers was a big blow for us."

Meanwhile, Poyet revealed that on-loan Newcastle United winger Kazenga LuaLua has agreed to stay with the Seagulls until the end of the season, and expects the paperwork to be completed on Tuesday.