COLCHESTER United may have secured another valuable point at Hull, but midfielder Kem Izzet believes that a spate of draws are “killing” his team.

Carl Marston

COLCHESTER United may have secured another valuable point at Hull, but midfielder Kem Izzet believes that a spate of draws are “killing” his team.

The U's were on course to escape the relegation zone for the first time in nearly three months, when Johnnie Jackson blasted them into a 47th minute lead. But they could not cling onto this advantage, and so had to make do with a 14th draw of the campaign.

“We're playing well, but these draws are really killing us at the moment,” insisted Izzet.

“It's great that we have finally got on an unbeaten run, which is something we hadn't managed this season. But we've drawn three of these four games, which is disappointing.

“I thought we created the better chances in both halves, and I couldn't really see them scoring. I thought it was another good performance, and we're confident of staying up.

“The new signings have certainly made a big difference. We've looking stronger at the back, and John White is playing so well at the moment that it feels like he's also a new player for us.

“Karl (Duguid) moving to the right of midfield has also given us better balance,” added Izzet.

Ex-Charlton trainee Izzet, who is the U's second longest-serving player behind Duguid, also admitted that he should have fired the visitors into a two-goal lead when bursting onto Scott Vernon's lay-off.

“I should have scored, I know that,” added Izzet.

“I'm disappointed, but we've been doing well away from home. The expectations are a lot higher at home, and often the crowd have been getting on our backs sooner rather than later. It's usually just individuals, but we have to ignore them.”

Meanwhile, U's boss Geraint Williams was full of praise for midfielder Jackson, who netted a contender for goal-of-the-season with his clinical 20-yarder.

“I said it might be another 20 years before Johnnie scored another great goal with his right foot, after his winner against Preston, but he's done it just four days later. It was a fantastic strike,” enthused Williams.

“Once again I'm delighted with the performance, but disappointed with the result. We need to turn these one-pointers into three points.

“We had chances to kill off the game at 1-0, but then Dean Gerken has also pulled off two great saves, once in first-half injury-time (from Ryan France) and then right at the death from Wayne Brown. I thought that Wayne was going to pop up with the winner, but that would have been harsh on us.

“I'm very satisfied with the display, but not the result,” added Williams.

Goalscorer Jackson said: “We're on our best run of the season, and it's another point picked up. If we keep playing like that, we'll be OK.”

Hull boss Phil Brown rued: “It was a sticky performance from us. We started the game well for the first 15 minutes, but we didn't get them on the back foot enough. Colchester's away performances this year have kept them in with a shout of survival, so we knew it would be tough. They are a good side.”