Accrington Stanley 3 Colchester United 1: Carl Marston’s reaction

What could go wrong, did go wrong, for John McGreal’s under-performing Colchester United yesterday.

In fact, with the exception of Sammie Szmodics’ late consolation goal, nothing much went right for the disappointing U’s in a 3-1 defeat at Accrington Stanley:

1 The decision to start with natural attacker Drey Wright at left wing-back, and leave an in-form Sammie Szmodics on the bench until the second half, seemed to backfire. Wright looked uncomfortable in a more defensive role, and Szmodics made a big impact following his introduction.

2 The U’s failed to take their chances. They had four good scoring opportunities, but Ryan Jackson, Craig Slater, Wright and Denny Johnstone could not find the back of the net.

3 The three-man defence was opened up time-and-time again, and the U’s also looked vulnerable from set pieces.

- John McGreal quotes and video

4 Instrumental centre-half Tom Eastman hobbled off with an ankle injury after 38 minutes. The injury will be assessed today.

5 All-in-all, this was an opening day to forget for an impressive U’s away following, which numbered 329 from a crowd of 1,625.