COLCHESTER United manager John Ward blasted his defence after they gifted Yeovil a 4-2 victory at Huish Park this afternoon.

COLCHESTER United manager John Ward blasted his defence after they gifted Yeovil a 4-2 victory at Huish Park this afternoon.

The U’s, who have now lost 12 of their last 16 away league games, have generally been strong at the back but powerpuff up front on their travels.

Today it was the opposite though as Ashley Vincent and David Mooney goals were rendered useless by some shambolic defending – on loan Ipswich Town defender Tommy Smith the most guilty party.

“Our defending was pretty woeful,” admitted U’s boss Ward. “We’ve been a soft touch.

“Generally our defending on our travels has been top six and our goalscoring has been bottom six.

“Today we score two goals away from home and you expect to get something, but we’ve defended very, very poorly. You just can’t put your finger on it.

“We’ve fought our way back into the game twice and not only then shot ourselves in the foot but also shot ourselves in the head.

“I’ve got no cover for these players at the moment, we were too soft. The travelling business will be thrown at us again and quite rightly.

“I’m not just blaming the back four, we’ve given two poor free-kicks away and that’s the fault of two forward players.

“I’m not going to name names, I’ve done that in the dressing room. It’s a team thing and I’m involved in that team as well.”

– For full report and reaction, including Ward’s thoughts on a difficult afternoon for Smith and an honest appraisal by centre-back Nathan Clarke, see Monday’s EADT.