Steve Whitton cited Colchester United's 3-0 humbling against Wycombe Wanderers as the poorest performance of his managerial reign.

The U's boss, forced to make an 11th hour change to his line-up after Ross Johnson pulled a hamstring before the game, watched in horror as a brace from Keith Ryan and a thunderbolt from Steve Brown sunk his sorry troops.

The result leaves United still hovering perilously close to the relegation trapdoor with just four matches left.

Whitton said: "I'm very disappointed to say the least but I'm not going to use Ross's absence as an excuse because it was a below-par performance from everyone.

"If these players are going to be in my side they'll have to do a lot better than that. Wycombe wanted it more than us which is inexcusable because they're safe and we're not. We were second best all over the pitch for 85 minutes."

Whitton blamed naivete at the back as the reason his side capitulated so easily.

"Our defending was poor and if you make mistakes like that then it's bound to cost you dear. Their first goal came from a silly free-kick and the second could have been cleared twice.

"I've told the players it's unacceptable and I'll be expecting some kind of reaction from them. I'm disappointed they didn't respond better to last week's disappointment."

The U's now face a crunch East Anglian derby against Cambridge United next weekend in a six-pointer at Layer Road.

The Abbey Stadium outfit are currently sixth from bottom in Division Two but boosted their survival chances with a 4-0 triumph at fellow-strugglers Cardiff on Saturday.

Whitton added: "The match against Cambridge is a massive one because it's a local derby and they're flying at the moment. It will be a huge test of our character."

The U's boss did not rule out the prospect of fielding his full first team in this afternoon's rearranged Avon Insurance Combination clash with Fulham at Layer Road, kick-off 2pm.

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