COLCHESTER and East Essex captain Tom Ullyott described his side's disappointing defeat against Ilford as their worst performance of the season.

The hosts tumbled to a seven-wicket defeat at Castle Park, a result that confirmed their opponents' spot in the Shepherd Neame Essex League premier division for another season.

Having been put into bat, Colchester were dismissed for a modest 193 on a good batting wicket.

And their visitors had little trouble in securing the necessary runs to win, losing only three wickets on their way to reaching their target.

Ullyott said: "It was probably our worst performance of the season.

"We were very lethargic and it wasn't great.

"But we ended up 100 runs short on a deck that wasn't doing anything all day.

"We wanted to finish the season by getting a few results together and it's disappointing to have lost in the manner we did.

"Ilford were hungry for the win to ensure their safety and it showed in their performance - they were by far the better side."

Colchester's batsman initially made a solid start in their final home game of the season.

Openers Jake Foley (51) and Ollie Lovejoy (25) put on 49 for the opening wicket and the hosts then put on 84 added the loss of only one wicket.

However, Colchester lost their way a little after that and although Jack Hebron hit 62, they struggled on a flat pitch.

Former Pakistan A all-rounder Ashar Zaidi took four wickets, while Mohammad Ahktar claimed figures of 5-32 in his 11.2-over spell.

When Ben Stephens (1-25) took the wicket of opener Ketan Korgaonkar early on, it gave Colchester hope of limiting their visitors.

But wickets were hard to come by after that and Zaidi top-scored with an unbeaten 56, as Ilford claimed a deserved victory.

Colchester play their final game of the premier division season this weekend when they travel to play newly-crowned champions Wanstead and Snaresbrook.

Colchester's second team were also beaten by Ilford in the second XI premier division, losing by three wickets at Valentines Park.

Tom Allison hit 53 in Colchester's total of 211 and despite four wickets from Josh Frame (4-81), the home side claimed victory.

Colchester's third team have been relegated from third XI division one.

They lost their penultimate game of the season at Chelmsford IV by 120 runs.