Ward - I am extremely disappointed

Tranmere were just too strong for Colchester at the weekend, a second half capitulation saw Rovers 4-0 winners.

John Ward was left "extremely disappointed" and felt his side should have "stood up" to the hosts more in the second half: 'I am extremely disappointed.

'In the second half we didn't stand up to Tranmere and they knocked us about and pulled us apart really.'

A response was needed after going behind but this wasn't seen and too many individuals not "working hard" compounded the fact a "collective unit" didn't work: 'We started well and we could have been ahead but we didn't respond when we went behind. We went two down and lost our shape. Heads dropped and players went missing from the game.

'We talked about how we wanted to go about the game but we kept losing the ball in midfield and we looked dishevelled in the second half. Each goal lifted Tranmere but when you are not working well collectively you have to make sure you work hard as an individual. We have gone behind in previous games and come back as a strong unit but that didn't happen and we have to work out why because it was disturbing.'

The U's boss wishes that a week wasn't needed before the next game but that is the case with the players needing to "lift themselves" for this: 'The players will have to lift themselves now and the joy is that there is always another game. The pity is that we have to wait another week for it but we can use that time to work out what happened and ensure it doesn't happen again.'

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