Colchester United remain two points adrift of safety after sliding to a disappointing 1-0 home defeat at the hands of fellow League One strugglers Notts County tonight.

Paddy McCourt grabbed the all-important winning goal midway through the second half, to inflict a third defeat in four matches on the U's in front of 2,505, their lowest league crowd of the season.

U's boss Tony Humes said: “It was poor all game and we didn’t get going at all.

“We didn’t pass the ball how we set out to go and play.

“We didn’t keep possession and to be fair, Notts County did to us what we had set out to do to them.

“Whether it was the expectation of the game, the players looked nervous.

“We have to be better and braver than that and the players are massively disappointed, as you would expect.

“Disappointment isn’t a good thing to have, because that means you have regrets about what happened.

“The players are scratching their heads – it comes from their performance and it wasn’t there.

“People were shouting that there’s no passion but the players gave it a go.

“It wasn’t great but I wouldn’t say that anybody didn’t try out there.

“We didn’t create anything or clever with the ball – anything we set out to do just didn’t happen.

“They had a lot of chances and it could have been a few more."

Colchester failed to get going in the first half and Sam Walker was by far the busier of the two goalkeepers, denying Jamal Campbell-Ryce and Blair Adams before half-time.

And although the U's improved after the break, they only threatened on occasions.

McCourt broke the deadlock when he headed Campbell-Ryce's cross into the far corner of the net.

Colchester sent on Rhys Healey, Jack Marriott and David Fox after that and although Macauley Bonne's deflected effort was saved off the line by Adams, the U's fell to defeat.

For a full match report and pictures, see Wednesday's Daily Gazette.