TOM Flanagan admits Colchester United are creating a ‘rod for their own back’ with their inconsistent form.

But the U’s skipper believes the fact that they are back in action at Port Vale tonight is a good thing, as they bid to get back to winning ways in League Two.

Colchester are still licking their wounds following a 4-0 reverse at high-flying Walsall last weekend, a defeat that ended a five-match unbeaten run for Danny Cowley’s side.

READ MORE: Colchester to check on duo's fitness ahead of Port Vale trip

Flanagan said: “The fundamentals need to be non-negotiable.

“We’re all players in the team and it’s not an individual performance - it’s a team performance.

“We need some consistency and we were five unbeaten, going into this.

“We could have made it six but we threw it out of the window.

“I’m struggling to think of inconsistency like this that I’ve come across before.

(Image: RICHARD BLAXALL)

“We’re creating a rod for our own back here by not being consistent.

“We’ve got a really, really competitive good team and we’re only showing it in fits and spurts but it’s not good enough.

“That needs to change and it needs to change quickly.

“We’ve got another 38 games left of real consistent performance and we can’t be saying this, come Christmas.”

Flanagan says Colchester will be striving to put things right against Port Vale, after suffering their heaviest defeat under the Cowleys last weekend.

READ MORE: 'U's must now find answers not in words but in actions'

The 4-0 defeat at the Poundland Bescot Stadium followed on from their previous away game, where they drew 3-3 at Morecambe after relinquishing a two-goal lead in the final minutes against a side with only ten men.

“We go again, against another good team,” said former Sunderland and MK Dons centre-back Flanagan.

“We had the Morecambe game and then had a week in between, which was a terrible week; silence at breakfast, silence at lunch.

“You’re walking into a meeting and you’re getting shown how bad it really was.

(Image: STEVE BRADING)

“Tuesday is a good thing and the only way you can put things is by playing games, so hopefully it’ll be OK.

“The manager and Nicky do so much homework, all of them do.

“They sit on the coach for the whole journey and you never see the whites of their eyes, because they’re always looking at their laptops.

“We know virtually everything we think is going to happen in the game.”

Flanagan admits he felt sympathy for strike pair Lyle Taylor and Samson Tovide after the defeat at Walsall.

READ MORE: 'It's something we need to address' - Danny Cowley

Flanagan said: “I’m looking at Samson and Lyle in the dressing room afterwards - and this is something I never thought I’d say - but I feel sorry for the centre-forwards.

“I don’t ever feel sorry for centre forwards but I really felt for them.

“They both grafted and grafted and they’re both flat out in the dressing room and we let them down.

“All four of the goals we conceded were avoidable.

(Image: STEVE BRADING)

“My one is criminal, the ball can’t come across the six-yard box for the second one and then just track your runner for the fourth one.

“You can’t concede four goals if you’re pushing for the play-offs or even automatic.

“There’s no point in hiding it; if Walsall going to the top of the league isn’t motivation for us for what we did then I don’t know what is.

“We need a bigger level of maturity within the group and stick to the game plan.”