Craig Slater insists that Colchester United, without a win in their last seven league and cup games, “will turn it around” over the coming weeks and months.

The U’s have taken just three points from a possible 18, in their last six League Two games, as well as being knocked out of the Checkatrade Trophy with one group match still remaining.

The latest disappointment was a narrow 1-0 defeat at second-placed Doncaster Rovers last Saturday.

The U’s dominated that game, but failed to take their chances, and they were made to pay when Tommy Rowe capitalised on some slack defending to net the winner on the stroke of half-time.

Midfielder Slater, although deflated after this fruitless trip to the Keepmoat Stadium, is confident that the U’s will turn the corner, in terms of results, starting at home to Morecambe this weekend.

“It was such a frustrating game, because we had so many chances,” rued Slater, with reference to the defeat in South Yorkshire.

“It was a tough game, and it never really calmed down, but I think we can feel hard done by to come away with nothing.

“If anything, I don’t think they would have had any complaints if we had come away with the win.

“We just couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net, while at the other end we just switched off for their goal. You get punished for this.

“It’s hard to take, but we will keep believing, and we WILL turn it around – we will turn it around,” reiterated Slater.

The former Kilmarnock 22-year-old insists that the U’s are close to registering their first win, since their last success more than a month ago (3-2 success at home to Blackpool on September 10).

Scotsman Slater continued: “I think you could see from the Doncaster game that we are doing the right things. It’s just we need to have that clinical edge in front of the goal.

“We played some nice stuff, but then football is all about putting the ball in the back of the net, and that’s been the story of our last month.

“I think we would be more worried if we weren’t creating any chances. We had umpteen chances on Saturday – I lost count of the number of chances we had, with good balls coming into the box – we were just that wee fraction out.

“But we’ve just got to stay positive, and stick together. It was frustrating for the fans, but there’s no need to panic.

“Next weekend is very important for us, at home to Morecambe. We’ve got to be on it in training, ready for Morecambe. We can turn it around, I know that. We proved what we are capable of doing at the start of the season.

“To be fair, we played that way at Doncaster without putting the ball in the back of the net. They are up at the top end of the table, and that’s where we want to be.

“It was a tough one to take. No one could have given any more, and we all ran ourselves into the ground. We just have to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves down,” added Slater.