Colchester United boss Joe Dunne admitted his side got what they deserved after they were beaten 1-0 by Sheffield United.

The lacklustre U’s suffered a second successive home defeat, after Chris Porter’s late penalty gave the Blades a deserved win at the Weston Homes Community Stadium.

Dunne said: “We haven’t played well – we managed to stay in the game somehow but it’s gone against us.

“Sam Walker pulled off a great save for us and they hit the post.

“Overall, we deserved nothing from the game and it was the right decision to give a penalty.

“It’s just disappointing – as badly as we played, you don’t want to lose that way.

“It would probably have been unjust to Sheffield United had we got a point but we would have taken it, based on how poor we were.”

Dunne started with an attacking line-up, with Freddie Sears, Jabo Ibehre, Clinton Morrison and Dominic Vose all starting against the Blades.

But the U's struggled to create chances and Sheffield United goalkeeper Mark Howard had little to do all night.

“We just didn’t pass and move and what did surprise me the most about it was that we had three strikers on the pitch," said Dunne.

“There’s no point in having them on the pitch if the service to the strikers is non-existent.

“I felt we needed to get more of a foothold in midfield and aimless balls from back to front nullified what we were asking the players to do."

For a full match report and pictures from the U’s game with Sheffield United, see Wednesday’s Gazette.