George Elokobi admits Colchester United’s players must go back to basics this week following their mauling at Fleetwood Town.

Elokobi made his first U’s appearance as a second-half substitute at Highbury Stadium since returning to the club in the summer on a free transfer.

But Colchester were 3-0 down at the time and the former Wolves defender could do little to prevent his side from sliding to defeat.

Elokobi said: “It was an afternoon to forget but not one to forget too quickly.

“This league is unforgiving sometimes and we’ve just been reminded of how tough the league is.

“We have a lot of young players in the team and we all have to grow up as quickly as possible.

“We didn’t do the basics right from minute one in both boxes and you can’t be conceding goals like that – they were too soft and each and every one of us as individuals has to look at ourselves in the mirror and make sure it doesn’t happen again.

“You have to make sure that when you’re defending, your life depends on it and that happens in training, too.

“Everyone defended extremely well against Oldham so we have to go back to basics.

“We’re all very, very disappointed and rightly so."

For more on this story and five pages of coverage on the U's game at Fleetwood, see Monday's Daily Gazette.