Colchester United are on a roll at the moment, but manager Joe Dunne is still pleading for “more intensity” from his team.

The U’s powered to a 4-2 win at Carlisle United last Saturday, to make it four wins from the last six games and an impressive 13 points gathered from a possible 18.

Dunne was delighted with the result at Brunton Park, and also the resilience shown by his players, but he was disappointed with the way his team slackened off at the end, to allow the Cumbrians an injury-time consolation goal.

Keeper Sam Walker spilled James Berrett’s free-kick and Max Ehmer was the first to react to sweep home the rebound.

Such are the high standards, set by Dunne, that the Dubliner was frustrated by this late lapse, even though it was immaterial in terms of the result.

“We need that intensity about our play, which is why I was disappointed with their second goal,” insisted Dunne.

“That was a sloppy goal to concede. We are on a decent run at the moment, but we need to be intense about our game and not settle for anything.

“I thought we switched off before the end.

“It’s so far, so good, for us, but we’ve got to keep this intensity about us.”

Although Dunne was critical of certain aspects of the U’s game at Carlisle, he did recognise that this was a time for celebration, rather than too much reflection.

“Was it a 4-2 game? Probably not. But we’ve been there before, so we will take that and move on,” continued Dunne.

“Let’s stay positive. We are winning games and scoring lots of goals. We can make changes from the bench, and some players are missing out.

“It’s a massive team effort for us. We are moving in the right direction, further away from where we don’t want to be.”

The U’s boss revealed that Tom Eastman had been hampered by an injury, during Saturday’s Cumbrian challenge, but that the ex-Ipswich Town defender was never going to come off.

“Tom (Eastman) was only about 30% fit,” confirmed Dunne.

“But he wasn’t coming off. “That’s part of what we need here. I think we’ve managed these last few weeks very well, as staff, keeping our players fresh.”