the final game of the 2014–15 season was to be played at the community stadium against preston north end, who were second in league one and needing to match milton keynes dons result against yeovil town to gain promotion to the championship. anything but a win against preston would mean relegation for colchester, while they needed to rely on other results working in their favour to survive. with so much riding on the game, the match was selected to be shown live on sky sports. in an end-to-end game, colchester were under pressure from preston but defended resolutely to keep the score at 0–0 at half-time. george moncur was fouled in the penalty area by preston goalkeeper sam johnstone, and chris porter stepped up to take the kick. however, he sent the ball over the bar. in the 82nd-minute, chris porter held the ball up for george moncur to score the crucial goal that gave colchester a 1–0 lead. they held off a preston onslaught for the remainder of normal time and five minutes of added time. with relegation rivals crawley, crewe, and notts county, and leyton orient only managing a draw, the u's remained in league one by two points, finished in 19th-position and safety. colchester's performance and result against preston earned the club the league managers association 'performance of the 'week' award, as voted by the panel consisting of lma chairman howard wilkinson, alex ferguson, joe royle, dave bassett, and barry fry.