Coventry City 2 Colchester United 1COLCHESTER United manager, Geraint Williams, described last night's narrow defeat at Coventry City as “a night of almosts.

By Carl Marston

Coventry City 2 Colchester United 1

COLCHESTER United manager, Geraint Williams, described last night's narrow defeat at Coventry City as “a night of almosts.”

Super sub Jamie Guy fired home an 85th minute cracker to give the visitors late hope of snatching a point, but the Sky Blues held on to leapfrog the U's in the Championship table.

A first-half of few chances ended in disappointment for United, with Trinidad & Tobago international Stern John breaking the deadlock in stoppage time.

And John turned provider on 67 minutes, setting up midfielder Michael Doyle for the all-important second.

Williams rued: “To be fair, I thought it was going to be a 0-0 draw all the way. Two lapses in concentration cost us dear, before we got one back at the end.

“Otherwise, neither goalkeeper had much to do. We are obviously disappointed, because we felt that if we had stuck to it, then we would have got a point.

“It was a night of almosts for us. If you are not quite at the races, then you are going to struggle in a match at this level.

“The players who felt that they could have done better with the goals have already put their hands up. That's how honest these lads are. We are not afraid of losing, but we hate it.

“Jamie (Guy) took his goal well. He gave it just the right amount of bend. That was the only way he could have scored from there,” added Williams.

The U's also picked up a couple of injuries, with both Kevin Watson (tight calf) and Richard Garcia (sore ankle) hobbling off in the first-half. Garcia is suspended for this Saturday's visit of Southampton.

See today's EADT for full match report and pictures