Chris Porter believed the windy conditions were a key factor in Colchester United falling just short of salvaging at least a point from Saturday’s relegation showdown, a 3-2 home defeat to Barnsley.

Club skipper Porter was unleashed as a substitute, at the start of the second half, and proceeded to deliver a man-of-the-match performance.

The ex-Sheffield United marksman recorded the U’s first shot on target of the game, inside the first minute of the second half, before setting up George Moncur for the U’s first goal.

Porter then netted the U’s second himself, and came within a whisker of netting an equaliser from close range late on.

“It was difficult to judge, because the wind was blowing all over the place,” explained Porter, with reference to his first chance.

“I ran behind it, but it was a bad first touch from me.

“Basically, I just tried to run around and cause as many problems as I could, when I came on.

“It was a great run from George (Moncur) and a good finish for the first goal.

It was an easy pass to him after their defender (Reece Wabara) made a bit of a mistake.

“For my goal, again they were difficult conditions. Cal (Callum Harriott) played a great ball in and I managed to chest it down and score.

“For the ball that came across, which a few of us could have ended up putting it in the back of the net, again the wind was so unusual. The ball started to slow, and then the wind seemed to gust it across.

“However, I thought we played well in those difficult conditions in the second half. It just happens to be the way that things are going for us at the moment, like when big Tom hit the bar. At the moment these aren’t dropping in for us.”