Colchester United manager Tony Humes apologised to the club’s fans after they were thrashed 6-0 by Chesterfield tonight.

The shell-shocked U’s were put to the sword by a rampant Spireites side, who were in clinical form at the Proact Stadium.

Colchester slumped to their joint-heaviest defeat of the season and remain three points adrift of safety, with four games remaining.

But this was potentially a body blow to their hopes of staying up and boss Humes said: “I feel for the fans – it was great support as usual.

“All I can do is apologise to them.

“There were a few bits and pieces for them to cheer about but I’m sure they admired Chesterfield’s quality.”

Sam Clucas and Gary Roberts both scored two goals apiece for play-off chasing Chesterfield, while Dan Gardner and Jimmy Ryan were also on target in the rout.

“I have to pay massive credit to Chesterfield – they were absolutely outstanding,” said Humes, who must now pick his players up for their vital game against Scunthorpe United on Saturday.

"You have to hold your hands up but that’s what the game is all about and we were absolutely nowhere near.

“We were chasing shadows – we knew that they’re a good team and that they were going to come at us but it’s up to the players to deal with that and I can’t defend anything that has happened out there tonight.

“We were played off the park by a very good team who wanted it more.

"Every single one of their players worked their socks off whether they had the ball or not and we didn’t have that.

"Huge credit to Chesterfield, because they had that determination and desire that a football player going out on the pitch should have.

"They’re good players but I’ve just said to our players that they’ve got to be like that week in, week out if they’re going to have a career in the game.

"They have to be as Chesterfield were but that comes down to hunger, desire and work rate.”

For a full match report and pictures from the U’s game at Chesterfield, see Wednesday’s Daily Gazette.