Tom Lapslie admits Colchester United produced a below-par display after suffering a surprise home defeat against Exeter City.

The U’s endured their first loss of the campaign at the Weston Homes Community Stadium after they were beaten 3-2 by the Grecians, who had previously only won once this season.

Colchester could have gone joint top of League Two with a win at the weekend but midfielder Lapslie admitted it was a disappointing performance.

Lapslie said: “I don’t think we were at our best – we worked hard and gave it all but it was just one of those days when we were a little bit off.

“Denny (Johnstone) having a goal ruled out for offside and Sammie (Szmodics) hitting the post summed up our day.

“We knew Exeter are a good side and by no means were we thinking we could just turn up and get the three points.

“They’re the best footballing side that we’ve played so far and I think they showed that and they scored three good goals away from us.

“At half-time, we came in knowing that we hadn’t played our greatest football and we were probably lucky to be 2-1 up at the time.

“We knew that we needed to sort things out but it didn’t happen.

“We’ll go through what’s happened and what went wrong but we also have to look at the positives of it as well – we scored two good goals and could have had more.

“We’ve got our targets and what we want to hit and we’re only in September.

“We’re just taking every game as it comes and we want to win as many games as we can.”

Lapslie has started every single game for Colchester so far this season.

But the 20-year-old admits he faces plenty of competition for his starting spot from the likes of Craig Slater, Doug Loft and new boy, Glen Kamara.

“I’m enjoying my time in the team,” added U’s youth-team product Lapslie.

“Hopefully the manager keeps picking me but he has an eleven to pick and will choose his best team for that particular game and I’ll take it and accept it.

“There’s plenty of players to play in midfield and there’s more in the under-23s and youth team too, so it’s good to have competition.

“It keeps you on your toes and wanting to win and perform at your best in every game.”

Colchester’s under-23 side will be aiming to protect their unbeaten start to the season this afternoon.

Wayne Brown’s side travel to play Cardiff City in Professional Development League Two, kick-off 2pm.