Barnsley 1 Colchester United 0COLCHESTER United failed to put injured keeper Heinz Muller under enough pressure as they slithered to a narrow defeat at Barnsley last night.

Carl Marston

Barnsley 1 Colchester United 0

COLCHESTER United failed to put injured keeper Heinz Muller under enough pressure as they slithered to a narrow defeat at Barnsley last night.

The U's remain rock bottom of the Championship, and even further adrift of safety, after failing to reproduce the kind of form that had earned them four points from their last two games at Charlton and Bristol City.

New signing Jonathan Macken made them pay with what proved to be the only goal of the game in the last minute of normal time at the end of the first-half - there were five minutes of injury-time after that, due to Muller's earlier injury.

Front-runner Macken, who played 14 games on loan at Ipswich during the first-half of last season, gleefully planted a loose ball into the net from eight yards out, after the U's defence had failed to deal with Daniel Nardiello's effort.

United never really recovered from that blow. In fact, Geraint Williams' men were desperately disappointing throughout the second-half.

Muller had been on the point of being substituted inside the first 20 minutes, after colliding with one of his own players and the near post. However, the German was patched up, so saving manager Simon Davey's blushes - he did not have a substitute goalkeeper on the bench.

Even though Muller was clearly favouring one leg, the U's could not pump enough balls into the box to exploit his weakness. He performed heroics to beat away Adam Virgo's vicious drive on 70 minutes, but was otherwise well protected.

United have it all to do, if they are to avoid relegation during the final 18 games of the season. They must start by rediscovering that winning feeling at Layer Road when Sheffield United come to town this Saturday.