COLCHESTER United boss Danny Cowley admits his side were 'too open' after tumbling to a 4-2 defeat at AFC Wimbledon this afternoon.

The U's made a dream start at Plough Lane and were 2-0 up inside the first ten minutes thanks to debutant Ben Goodliffe's double.

However, the Dons hit back to lead at half-time thanks to goals from James Ball, Jake Reeves and Matty Stevens, before Omar Bugiel wrapped up the hosts' victory with a fourth early in the second half.

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Cowley said: “A really difficult game to analyse.

“It was a really good start for us, 2-0 up inside the first ten minutes.

“They were two great goals - the second one was a brilliant header.

“I thought we were outstanding in that first 15 minutes.

“We played with great energy, great intensity, great purpose and scored two great goals.

“We were in a really good place in the game and probably looking to find the third goal.

(Image: RICHARD BLAXALL)

“They score probably with their first attack – the ball went into our box, has two ricochets and ends up in the corner of our goal.

“Maybe we caught up with that a little bit and we shouldn’t have done; we should have kept going with what we were doing.

“But when you concede four goals, you don’t expect to win football matches.

“I’m not used to my teams conceding four goals and I just felt we were too open.

“We need to go away and look at the reasons why.

“The distances seemed too big and as a consequence, we weren’t as aggressive or successful as we’d have liked to have been in the duels and one v one moments and this caused us real problems."

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Colchester felt hard done by after referee Daniel Middleton awarded Wimbledon a controversial penalty for an alleged handball by JK Gordon.

“The third goal was disappointing," said Cowley.

“We had an EFL meeting, where Howard Webb spoke and made it really clear that the two areas where the officials are looking to improve in are being not so fussy about handball - his words were that ‘we were far too fussy last year and we’re not going to be as fussy in that moment’.

“So when the ball comes and the ball strikes a hand when it’s only half a metre away, then we’re going to be much more sensible, in that moment.

(Image: RICHARD BLAXALL)

“He also spoke about being a little bit more officious on pulling in the box so we understand their thought process and how they’re going to apply the law and we speak and communicate that with the players.

“I need to watch it back but JK says it hit him in the face anyway and if it does, it’s a metre away.”

Cowley confirmed that defender Goodliffe was taken to hospital following the incident that left him lying prostrate in the Colchester area, in the build-up to Wimbledon's fourth goal.

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The defender received lengthy treatment after suffering a nasty mouth injury, following an accidental clash with Bugiel.

Cowley added: “Ben’s not in a good way.

“He’s gone to hospital with a really nasty looking facial injury.

“It looks like his two front teeth have been forced right back into the back of his mouth.

“There was a huge amount of blood and he was in quite a bad state, on the pitch and we just tried to comfort him, in that moment.”