Colchester United boss Kevin Keen admitted that it was a “kick in the teeth” to concede an injury-time equaliser in this afternoon’s 2-1 home defeat to Sheffield United.

The U’s looked to be on course for a point, when Tom Eastman headed home a 59th minute equaliser, after Billy Sharp had broken the deadlock on 20 minutes.

But the Blades grabbed a winner, in the second minute of stoppage time, with defender David Edgar bundling home a corner at the near post.

“It’s a kick in the teeth, it really is,” rued boss Keen.

“But we have to take the positives out of our second-half performance, which I felt was fantastic.

“I was disappointed with our first-half performance. I thought we were flat and the game was a little stale.

“But the boys were fantastic in that second half, and we just have to keep going.

“There’s no point in feeling down, we have to move on to the Fleetwood game on Tuesday,” added Keen.

Sheffield United boss Nigel Adkins said: “You have to give Colchester some credit. They have something about them, they have a bit about them in their team.

“We had to defend deep in the second half, and I took a striker off (Matt Done) because we needed to stay in the game.

“Colchester started the second half very well, and they put us under the cosh,” added Adkins.

The U’s entertain fellow strugglers Fleetwood on Tuesday evening.