Sam Walker summed up the dejection in the away dressing room after Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Crewe Alexandra.

Colchester United’s keeper had a relatively quiet afternoon, but still ended up on the losing side after Shaun Miller’s 61st minute goal sunk the lack-lustre U’s.

“We are bitterly disappointed, just all-round really,” rued Walker. “We never really got going today.

“We got to half-time at 0-0, and we spoke about going out there in the second half to impose our game on them, taking control of the game and going on to win the game, but that just didn’t happen.

“Our second-half performance was not like us at all. It was very flat and so ultimately we deserved what we got in the end.”

- Carl Marston’s Talking Points

A gruelling schedule last week, featuring a 630-mile round trip to Carlisle and then a Tuesday night fixture against Coventry, was not offered as an excuse by the experienced Walker.

“Everyone has to do the Carlisle trip at one stage during the season, and we all travel all over the place,” confirmed the U’s keeper.

“We all had a game on Tuesday night, so everyone has been in the same boat as us, in terms of travelling.

“I can’t really put my finger on it, but it’s still sore for us at the moment after the game, given that we had put in three or four good performances in a row leading up to this one.

“Last weekend at Carlisle (1-1 draw) we were unlucky not to come away with the win, and Tuesday night (2-1 win over Coventry) was a great performance.

“We were buoyant and full of beans coming into this game, but it hasn’t turned into a performance on the pitch.”

Walker still believes that the play-offs are within the U’s reach.

He continued: “It was a missed chance today. We spoke before that we had been in a similar position to this last season, and just missed out by running out of games at the end.

“We only missed out by a point, and we are very keen not to do that again this season.

“The play-offs are the absolute minimum of where we want to be, and we are still only three points off them, but we can’t keep letting these opportunities get away from us.”