Colchester United manager Kevin Keen admits conceding an early goal proved crucial after losing 4-1 at home to Peterborough United this afternoon.

The U's are staring the barrel of relegation following today's loss, which leaves them nine points from safety with four games remaining.

Colchester fell behind early on to Jon Taylor's opener and after George Moncur's first-half penalty had been saved, Posh scored twice in as many minutes through Andrew Fox and Shaquile Coulthirst.

Moncur pulled a goal back for Colchester but Marcus Maddison wrapped up Peterborough's win in stoppage-time, as the U's were beaten.

Keen said: “It’s a big ask when you get to those last eight or nine games of the season and say “you’ve got to win, win, win”.

“At some stage, something like today is going to happen.

“These things can happen and it’s very difficult when you leave yourselves so much to do in terms of staying in the league and it’s difficult to keep winning and winning.

“As well as we played in parts, we were always chasing the game after conceding the first goal and that was the big moment.

“It was disappointing, after going so long without conceding - we lost 4-1 so perhaps it’s a day to say we can’t really take positives."

Keen acknowledged that the form of Peterborough goalkeeper Ben Alnwick played a big part in contributing to his side's defeat.

The former Spurs keeper saved Moncur's penalty and also made a succession of fine stops from open play, to help Posh claim victory.

Keen said: “It’s a big ask when you get to those last eight or nine games of the season and say “you’ve got to win, win, win”.

“At some stage, something like this is going to happen.

“Their goalkeeper made some outstanding saves which I’ve said on numerous occasions in post-match interviews.

“He played very well and there have been lots of occasions where opposition goalkeepers have played very well against us.

“These things can happen and it’s very difficult when you leave yourselves so much to do in terms of staying in the league and it’s difficult to keep winning and winning."

For five pages of coverage of the U's game with Peterborough, see Monday's Daily Gazette.