COLCHESTER United head coach Ben Garner has challenged his squad to discover some consistency after they were beaten 1-0 at Walsall this afternoon.

Isaac Hutchinson’s wonderful long-range strike midway through the second half condemned the U’s to defeat at the Poundland Bescot Stadium, bringing them back down to earth following their fine win at Gillingham, seven days earlier.

Colchester almost grabbed an equaliser deep into stoppage time when Connor Hall’s header was brilliantly tipped over by goalkeeper Owen Evans but Walsall claimed a deserved win, as the U's slipped to a fourth defeat in their opening five League Two games.

READ MORE: match report as U's are beaten at Walsall

Garner said: “It was disappointing overall.

“I think the challenge for us at the moment is consistency.

“We can go to Gillingham last week and hit those levels and perform with that intensity and that way and we were nowhere near those levels today.

“We’ve got to find some consistency and we have to understand that in this league, you have to turn up at every single game.

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“We started slowly; we had to change shape, we had to change personnel.

“We had too many not at it.

“There were some really good performances from three or four – I thought the midfield two, Arthur Read and Noah Chilvers, were excellent but there were too many who were nowhere near their levels.

READ MORE: Walsall 1 U's 0 - as it happened

“We have to have every player turn up and perform, even if you’re not brilliant with the ball, you’re still intense and still make sure your work rate is high.

“We’re stretched as a squad and we’ve had some injuries – we’ve recruited and we’ve tried to bring people in.

“But that’s no excuse, because we were stretched last week (at Gillingham) and then we did what we did.

“The challenge is consistency and to turn up week in, week out and perform to a level.”

Colchester were second best in the first half but went in goal-less, at half-time.

They fell behind midway through the second half but almost claimed a point when skipper Connor Hall was twice denied by keeper Owen Evans, in the closing stages.

Garner said: “We finished the first half strongly, why we haven’t then kicked on from there.

“We had good spells but not consistent enough, not threatening enough.

“With the quality we’ve got in the team, we have to create more and we’ve not worked the goalkeeper nearly enough.

“He’s made two good saves near the end but we’ve not worked him anywhere near enough.

“There wasn’t much in the game but to be fair to Walsall, they were at it and were really competitive.

“There wasn’t major problems for us, we just needed to push on a bit more and we didn’t do that and that’s what has cost us."

Garner made a change in the 35th minute, sending on Matt Jay for Alex Newby.

Garner added: "There were several who weren't quite at it at the start, it wasn't just Newbs.

"It was a tactical change and we had to change shape because what we'd worked on in the week seemed to go completely out of their heads.

"Walsall were getting on top and we had to change to deal with that."