COLCHESTER United boss John Ward could not fault his players for their effort, but today’s 2-1 home defeat to Doncaster has seen them drop to the bottom of League One.

The U’s suffered their third defeat on the bounce, undone by a third minute goal from midfielder David Cotterill and a 48th minute own goal by Andy Bond.

Magnus Okuonghae’s 31st minute strike was not enough for the U’s, who have now failed to win any of their first seven league and cup games of the campaign.

“We’ve tried as hard as we can, and in simple, basic terms, we have put our best effort in,” insisted Ward.

“We’ve given everything that we’ve got, and that goes for every player. No one has shirked that.

“People say that’s a ‘given’ and it is a ‘given,’ we did that last weekend and we got beat, and we’ve done it this week and got beaten again.

“But we’ve given away two exceptionally soft goals at the start of both halves,” added Ward.