COLCHESTER United defender Chris Coyne revealed that manager Paul Lambert had given the players a real ticking-off in the dressing room, following another home flop at the hands of lowly Hereford.

Carl Marston

COLCHESTER United defender Chris Coyne revealed that manager Paul Lambert had given the players a real ticking-off in the dressing room, following another home flop at the hands of lowly Hereford.

The U's have lost seven of their first 11 home matches, since their summer move to the new Community Stadium, and third-from-bottom Hereford took full advantage by chalking up their first away win of the campaign.

First-half goals from Steve Guinan and Lionel Ainsworth proved sufficient for Hereford, who had only scored two away league goals all season before Saturday. Jermaine Easter pulled a goal back for the U's on 70 minutes.

Club captain Coyne confessed: “The manager gave us a bit of a volley in the dressing room after the game, but we've got to expect that.

“He's Scottish so has got fiery blood. He's had a couple of digs at us before, but we have to take it on the chin and do our jobs.

“It was a bad start from us. We conceded two sloppy goals, and you just can't legislate for sloppiness.

“If they had been 25-yard screamers, then we would have had to hold up our hands. But they were tap-ins from a few yards out, so we have to look at ourselves.

“It's not fair on our strikers to give them too much to do. You shouldn't need to be scoring two goals at home just to draw.

“We had won two in a row (against Yeovil and Northampton), and wanted to make that three, four or five wins. But now we have to start again.

“We have to go on a run to start climbing the table.

“We've increased our work-rate, or rather the intensity of our play, over the last few weeks, but I thought we had eradicated conceding such sloppy goals.

“It was one of those days when the ball would just not fall for us. Hereford got men behind the ball, which is not nice to play against, but you have to respect that,” added Coyne.