Colchester United boss, Joe Dunne, admitted that his side were just not at the races against visiting Bradford City last night.

The Bantams never looked back from the moment that James Hanson headed home Nathan Dolan’s 15th minute corner.

And there was no real surprise when the Bantams doubled their lead 10 minutes into the second half, Kyle Bennett rifling home from a narrow angle to complete a conclusive 2-0 win.

The U’s huffed and puffed, but to no great effect as Bradford boss Phil Parkinson enjoyed a successful return to his old club – Parkinson had guided the U’s into the Championship with automatic promotion in 2006.

It was Bradford’s first away win since last November, while for the U’s it’s now just one win in seven games, and just five points gathered from a possible 21.

“We were just slightly off it tonight,” admitted Dunne.

“It was a bit flat out there. This game was going to come, when our energy levels were flat, and it was a case of us trying to stay in the game and get something from the game.

“But you can’t make the mistakes we made tonight, and expect anything.

“We were half-a-yard short, and didn’t pick up second balls.

“We got into a groove at times, when the attackers looked like they could do something for us, but we missed good shooting opportunities.

“The whole day kind of started like that, with half the team stuck in traffic on the A12,” added Dunne.

In fact, when the Irishman put in his team-sheet, at 6.45pm, half of his team had still not arrived at the Community Stadium, due to traffic congestion, which meant the warm-up had to be curtailed.

“We were chasing the whole night,” continued Dunne.

“We were chasing to get here, and chasing the whole game. It was probably just one game to far for us at the moment.”