Coke was booked in the 2-1 loss, along with Luke Guttridge, who was substituted at half-time with Town trailing by two goals.

Ryan Gilligan was also withdrawn in the second half having struggled to reproduce the form he displayed against Leeds on Tuesday night.

Coke's assessment of the midfield's performance was brutally honest, and he also said the players wish there was a midweek game coming up in which to put things right.

"I think the first half lost us the game," he said. "I think me, Gutts (Luke Guttridge) and Gilly (Ryan Gilligan) didn't win enough second balls.

"Had we done that then I think it would have been a different score. We didn't and we've got to move on. It's done now and we've got a home game on Saturday to put it right.

"It's a massive game and all the boys are up for it. We wish there was a game on Tuesday night because we want to bounce back with three points as quickly as possible."

Leon Constantine completed another 90 minutes, playing mainly on the right of midfield, and almost scored with a curling effort.

Like Coke, the number eight feels the game was effectively lost in a lacklustre first half that saw Colchester score twice.

Constantine was pleased, though, with the fighting spirit shown.

"You can't afford to give any team a goal start, never mind a two-goal start," he said. "But we showed a lot of fighting qualities in the second half.

"I don't think Colchester outplayed us, we got done by a couple of balls into the box."