John Ward admitted his Colchester United side were lethargic in losing 4-1 at Bury this afternoon.

First-half goals from Mike Grella and Shaun Harrad left the U’s trailing at the break, at Gigg Lane.

Giles Coke made it 3-0 to the Shakers early in the second half and although Tom Eastman headed in his first-ever professional goal a minute later, the impressive David Worrall completed the U’s miserable afternoon with a fourth goal, 17 minutes from time.

U’s boss Ward said: “I thought we’d got these sort of defeats out of our system (after the Stevenage and MK Dons) earlier in the season and that’s when we could have fallen away.

“We galvanised ourselves after that but we slipped back into that lethargic kind of performance and that’s disappointing because we’ve had supporters up here.

“We thought that we’d become tougher to beat.

“In the 41 games we’ve played, we’ve had 30 positive results where we’ve gained points.

“We prepared well in terms of getting the team up here but we’ve not produced a strong enough performance.”

Ward refused to use the absence of key defender Magnus Okuonghae as an excuse for his side’s heavy defeat.

Okuonghae did not travel with the U’s squad to Gigg Lane after picking up a knock in their 1-1 draw against Hartlepool United, on Good Friday.

“We missed Magnus and you miss players but Matt Heath is a good player and Tom is a good lad coming through,” added Ward.

“But they both had a tough afternoon and we did miss Magnus.”

See Tuesday’s Gazette for more reaction to Colchester’s defeat at Bury, along with a full match report and pictures.