Colchester United boss John McGreal admitted that there were “no positives” to come out of today’s 1-0 home defeat to lowly Barnet.

The U’s suffered a big setback, in their quest for the League Two play-offs, when they tasted only their fourth home league defeat of the season, at the hands of the bottom club.

Alex Nicholls grabbed the only goal of the game in the 66th minute to secure all three precious points for Graham Westley’s strugglers.

Nicholls controlled John Akinde’s lay-off and kept his composure to sweep home a low shot beyond keeper Sam Walker and in at the far post.

For the second weekend running, the U’s under-performed, just as they had done at Crewe when they again endured a 1-0 loss.

McGreal said: “It was a thoroughly disappointing performance,

“We tried to build up a tempo from minute one, but it did not work.

“It was very nip-and-tuck, conditions were difficult (very windy) and the pitch was not the best, but it was a very poor performance.

“We did not have any of the free-flowing football of the Coventry game (2-1 home win), and to be honest we didn’t deserve anything out of this game.

“There were no positives to take at all,” added McGreal