Ian Henderson gets behind the Crewe defence prior to scoring

IAN Henderson set up Colchester United’s first goal, for Freddie Sears, and scored the second himself, but he was still downcast after the U’s 3-2 defeat at Crewe on Saturday.

The U’s kissed goodbye to a 2-0 lead, conceding three second-half goals at Gresty Road to crash to their third defeat in just eight days.

A disbelieving Henderson confessed: “We’ve let it slip in the second half, as a team. It was so frustrating, personally, and as a team, to concede those three goals.

“When any team gets back into a game, their spirits are always lifted, but we have got to try and kill their spirits. We didn’t do that today. We let it slip.

“Their manager changed tactics, and it has worked for them. We should have seen the game out, if we had done what we should have done. It’s three points lost us.”

Henderson scored his second goal of the season, with a superb lob, just before the half-hour mark at Crewe.