JOHN McGreal admitted his Colchester United players need to be accountable for their performances after their winless run was extended to ten matches following an FA Cup defeat against Chesterfield.

The U's were beaten 2-1 at home by the Spireites to bow out of the competition at the first-round stage, in front of a crowd of 1,840 at the Weston Homes Community Stadium.

Ched Evans netted the winner for the League One strugglers in the second half, after substitute Tarique Fosu had cancelled out Jay O'Shea's first-half opener.

McGreal said: "You can’t let someone like Ched Evans be free especially with the start we made in the second half.

“We keep supporting the players and sticking up for them and trying to stay positive but we have to now address it because we’re on the end of another defeat.

“It’s got to stop sooner or later and we need a win and try our hardest to get it.

“We can’t be always hard done by game by game and we have to be accountable.

“We huffed and puffed after that and gone in and around the final third and had a couple of efforts but without really troubling them as such.

“It could have gone either way and we had opportunities in the second half.

“We equalised quite quickly in the second half and hit the bar.

“But if you give Ched Evans an opportunity from six or seven yards out, he’s not going to miss with the quality that he has.

“It was scrappy but we’re on the end of another defeat."