Colchester United might be third from bottom, with just one point gained from three games, but manager Joe Dunne won’t be changing his approach, or his team’s style of play.

The U’s were so unlucky to lose 2-1 at Notts County on Tuesday night, denied by the heroics of veteran keeper Roy Carroll, and then beaten by Liam Noble’s long-range wonder strike.

It was harsh on the visitors, who had dominated for most of the evening and registered 26 goal attempts.

Dunne knows that his players must start converting those chances into goals, but he remains at ease with his team.

“I won’t change what we are doing,” insisted Dunne.

“I’d still rather be in our changing room, based on the way we are playing and how we wanted to play the game.

“Any other night and it could have been 5-1 or 6-1 to us. Once again their keeper (Roy Carroll) was man of the match, like their keeper was here last season.

“It’s hard, because people will feel that I am gibbering on again.

“They’ve heard it all before, but if we keep creating chances like that, then we will have a 20-goal striker, no question.

“Freddie Sears scored and my strikers hit the target, it’s just that they came up against a top goalkeeper.

“I know a lot of people who will say I’d rather win 2-1 and not play that way, but I won’t swap changing rooms.

“I know it sounds a bit funny, but not when I see my team play like that, with the belief and movement, and see players feel totally natural with the game,” added Dunne.

The Dubliner admitted that his players were devastated to lose at Meadow Lane, following on from an opening day 2-2 draw against Oldham and then a 2-1 defeat at Bristol City last weekend.

But he believes that an elusive first win of the season is just be around the corner, perhaps at home to Doncaster Rovers this Saturday.

“We have a home game on Saturday to focus on,” continued Dunne.

“We won’t change, we won’t change the way we play. It’s the way we played against Oldham and at Bristol, and for the opening minutes at Charlton.

“I’ve had to live with this for three years now, saying we’ve played well and lost as manager.

“The players are on the floor, they are desperately disappointed. But performances are key and I have no criticism for my players.

“I know a lot of fans who were not here (at Notts County) will think – ‘it’s the same old story’ – but we have to keep believing in ourselves.”

n Sanchez Watt made his comeback from injury yesterday, playing for Colchester United’s under-21 development squad in their opening league fixture, a goalless draw at Sheffield United.Winger Watt played the full 90 minutes, while fellow first teamer David Wright featured for an hour on his return from an Achilles injury at the Blades’ training ground.

Ipswich Town youngster Byron Lawrence, on trial with the U’s, played the full match in midfield and impressed Academy manager Tony Humes. He said: “Byron showed a good awareness of how we want to play the game here at Colchester and settled into it extremely quickly.”