COLCHESTER United goalscorer Greg Halford admitted that his side “were playing catch-up already,” after succumbing to their third straight defeat at the hands of Barnsley on Saturday.

By Carl Marston

COLCHESTER United goalscorer Greg Halford admitted that his side “were playing catch-up already,” after succumbing to their third straight defeat at the hands of Barnsley on Saturday.

Halford headed the U's into a 42nd minute lead, only for second-half strikes from Marc Richards and Brian Howard to inflict a 2-1 defeat on the U's.

Geraint Williams' men are therefore still searching for their first point in what is their first ever Championship campaign.

“We are struggling already. We are playing catch-up, and you can't afford to do that in this league,” rued Halford.

“This defeat is very, very disappointing. We played well in the first-half and deserved to be 1-0 up, but it all went pear-shaped in the second period.

“We deserved to get beaten on our second-half performance. I don't really know what went wrong. Maybe we got a bit complacent and a bit laid-back. We didn't do what we set out to do at half-time. We did not follow any of the game plan. In the end we gave them three points,” added Halford.

The U's are facing an uphill battle to make their mark in the Championship, following defeats by Birmingham, Plymouth and Barnsley, since their promotion from League One last term.

Next up for the U's is a daunting trip to West Brom.

“It's always nice to score, but I'd rather the team had done well,” said Halford.