Colchester United boss Joe Dunne admitted that his team contributed to their own downfall during this afternoon’s 3-1 defeat at Brentford.

Magnus Okuonghae’s 48th minute header had put the U’s ahead, but they were blown away by goals from Marcello Trotta, George Saville and Kadeem Harris in a dramatic 10-minute spell near the end of the game.

“I thought generally overall we controlled exactly what we worked on this week, it was that which got us into the lead,” explained Dunne.

“But exactly what we warned against, has aided in our defeat.

“They were poor passes in midfield, in the wrong areas that we said this week – ‘you won’t get the chance to do that against Brentford.’

“Brentford turned the ball around really quickly, and punished us really hard.

“The first goal we think is an own goal (Trotta’s shot went in off Okuonghae). They are the kind of breaks that are going against us at the moment.

“Overall, we stifled the opposition in the first half, and got the goal early in the second half.

“We dealt with most of it after that, but then aided in our downfall,” added Dunne.