COLCHESTER United boss Danny Cowley admits it was a bad day for his side after they were thrashed 4-0 at high-flying Walsall this afternoon.

Substitute Jack Earing’s brace and further goals from Albert Adomah and Jamie Jellis inflicted upon the U’s their heaviest defeat since Cowley took over, after their five-match unbeaten run came to a shuddering halt.

Jellis had given Walsall the lead late in the first half and Adomah doubled it in the 79th minute, before Earing stepped off the bench to score twice in the final minutes and leave the U’s well beaten.

Cowley said: “It was a bad day for us – one step forward, two steps back.

“We did well first half and we were the better team.

“To be fair to them, they scored a great first goal – a brilliant ball and a brilliant receive and a great goal which gives them the lead just before half-time.

“I thought that if we could play as well as we did first half we could find a way back into it but we’re disappointed with ourselves, second half.

“We came out from the first whistle in the second half really flat, devoid of energy and didn’t play with the intensity that we wanted to.

(Image: RICHARD BLAXALL)

“We just didn’t really react to what was a good goal from them and really frustrating that we let the game drift.

“In the second half, I didn’t like us at all.

“We were devoid of personality and just let the game drift and it was frustrating, as I thought the game was there for us.

"Credit to Walsall - they're a good team and they tick a lot of boxes for League Two.

"But my focus is on us and at the moment, we're too inconsistent.

"Against a team that's top of the table, we were the better team in the first half but in the second half, our performance was nowhere near to that level.

"It's something that's disappointing and something we need to address and ultimately, we need to learn from because the best players are really consistent in their actions and that gives you a platform to put a team performance together over 90 minutes."

Colchester’s cause was not helped when they lost both Owura Edwards and Teddy Bishop to injury, in the second half.

The pair are both now doubts for the U’s trip to play Port Vale, on Tuesday night.

Cowley continued: “We lose two key players to injury and of course when you go 2-0 down, you know you’ve got another away game on Tuesday so it’s damage limitation.

“You then take both forwards off with the game in mind and we lost our way but we still had enough experience on that pitch and for us, it was football suicide at the end of that game.

“It was ridiculous that we were so open – of course, we were trying to get back into that game but you have to do it with a level of intelligence and with a strategy and we just constantly opened ourselves up and they countered and got the third in the 89th and the fourth, in injury time and what was a bad day becomes a really bad day.

“We’d gone five games unbeaten and we’d worked hard to get to that run.

“But we’ve conceded four goals and we’ve now conceded four twice this season and a three.

“I’m not used to my teams doing that and it was a reckless way that we conceded the goals.”