COLCHESTER United boss Geraint Williams was “hurting badly” after watching his side slump to a heavy defeat at Plymouth last night.The U's were over-run by their Devon hosts, and they were fortunate to escape with just a 3-0 reverse.

By Carl Marston

COLCHESTER United boss Geraint Williams was “hurting badly” after watching his side slump to a heavy defeat at Plymouth last night.

The U's were over-run by their Devon hosts, and they were fortunate to escape with just a 3-0 reverse. The Pilgrims could easily have doubled their tally.

“We are all hurting after this performance, including me, the players and all the coaching staff. That was far and away our poorest performance of the year.

“I'm very, very disappointed. We've had a chat in the dressing room, although it was calm because I don't believe in ranting and raving. We were on the back of a good away display at Barnsley (a 3-0 win), so I thought that we had found our away form, but it's back to the drawing board again.

“The first goal gave Plymouth a lift, and they kept it going, but we should have done better. We would have had no complaints if Plymouth had scored a couple more. The one positive aspect was the performance of Dean Gerken, although we expect that sort of effort from our young keeper.

“I also thought that Wayne Brown was lucky not to get sent off in the second-half (for a foul on Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, when he was the last man). I already had Pat Baldwin warming up, ready to come on,” admitted Williams.

Goals from David Norris, Ebanks-Blake (penalty) and Dan Gosling wrapped up a league double for Plymouth.