WAYNE Brown said he felt for his Colchester United players following their 1-0 defeat at promotion-chasing Bristol Rovers.

The U's lost their first game in five matches after Elliot Anderson's fine strike early in the second half sealed Rovers' victory, at the Memorial Stadium.

Colchester frustrated their high-flying hosts for long periods with an organised and disciplined display but came away empty-handed.

However, they remain eight points above the relegation zone and interim boss Brown said his players could take heart from their display in the West Country, despite the result.

Brown said: "We're really frustrated and disappointed.

"I've asked the lads to go out there and be disciplined in what they did, be well structured, be hard to break down and I thought we were.

"This is a tough place to come to and they're flying high at the moment.

"They're scoring a lot of goals of late and I think they got three in their last outing and we've restricted them to four shots on target, two of which were outside the box.

"I'm really pleased with the lads, with the information that was given them over the last couple of days and the turnaround from Scunthorpe away, obviously a long journey and two on the bounce.

"I felt for them, because they've gone out there and they've done everything that we've asked.

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"If I'm critical, we just weren't good enough in the final third.

"But we had two great chances and we had one cleared off the line.

"If you look at the numbers and the stats, they're really positive.

"I know it's not played in numbers and stats, I know it's three points - I get it.

"But we can take a lot of heart from this performance and if I'm honest, if you asked their management team, they'd say we were quite unlucky not to come away with a point."

Anderson netted Rovers' winner four minutes after the break, a goal that proved to be the winner.

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The Newcastle United loanee curled in a delightful shot in a game where there was little between the two teams.

"The goal has probably come after a switch of play, where there wasn't enough pressure on the ball," said Brown.

"The switch has probably happened a bit too easily and then it's probably a third phase, so there's a lot that's happened in between that phase.

"Listen, give the lad (Elliot Anderson) credit - it's a great finish on his strong foot.

"You can't take anything away from the strike and if I'm honest, that was probably the only difference between the two teams.

"Yes, we set up a lot differently to them - they do what they do and they do it well and they're at the top end of the table for a reason.

"But I thought we frustrated and we nullified them - we just lacked that little bit of quality at the end."

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The closest Colchester came to scoring was when Tom Eastman's goalbound header was nodded away from underneath his own crossbar by Rovers captain, Paul Coutts.

Brown added: "We've scored eight from set plays since we've been here so we know that we're a threat.

"It's something that we work on and it can win you the game of football.

"Easty has come in and done great alongside Chambo (Luke Chambers) after missing a few games and not being on the bench at times.

"He's had to be patient but as I've said before many times, all of the squad is going to be needed and that was proven again today with his header that was cleared off the line.

"Near misses, fine margins but I'm happy with the lads' performance - just unhappy with the result."