ANGRY Colchester United boss Joe Dunne has demanded more “backbone” from his team.

The Dubliner was furious with his side’s woeful defending, which allowed hosts Northampton to score twice and so book their place in the southern area quarter-finals of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy on Tuesday night.

Dunne had no problem with the way the U’s played as an attacking force, but he slammed his team’s soft underbelly.

“I am looking for a bit more backbone in my team,” insisted Dunne, after the 2-1 defeat.

“If the forwards don’t take their chances, I expect my defenders to lock them out and our forwards will eventually score.

“But we can’t have kamikaze moments, especially in quick succession. There were two quick goals at Yeovil (3-1 defeat) and two quick goals at Northampton.

“If anyone was looking at us now, they’d say – ‘get the first goal and then go for the second one quickly, because they won’t be able to cope with it.’

“And I can’t have people talking about my teams like that,” added Dunne.

Despite taking a 31st minute lead through Freddie Sears, the U’s were soon left trailing to Adebayo Akinfenwa (51st minute penalty) and Henoc Mukendi (53rd minute header).

That two-goal burst ruined all the good work of a fluent first-half display, much to Dunne’s frustration.

“I don’t want to become a nice, pretty team, and then lose!” continued Dunne.

“It was the same on Saturday at Yeovil, when we dominated periods of the match.

“I suppose that is the transition into what we are trying to do. We are going to get some nights like this, but I don’t want too many.

“Traditionalists in the game will say that winning is not the most important thing, that’s what they keep telling me, and then they call me a dreamer when I want to pass the ball.

“On another night, we win by four or five and everyone says how great we are. Now, all of a sudden, we shouldn’t be passing the ball.

“Two minutes undid all our good work. It was madness. These moments are crazy, and they’ve got to stop. We have to move on from this, and quickly.”

The U’s entertain unbeaten Stevenage on Saturday.