Colchester United head coach John McGreal admits his side's hugely disappointing 3-0 home defeat against Leyton Orient this afternoon is a "massive wake-up call" for his side.

The U's slumped to a miserable loss at a rain-sodden Weston Homes Community Stadium, leaving them third from bottom in the League Two and just a point above the relegation zone.

Colchester have now not won in 12 matches in all competitions and have not tasted victory in the league for more than two months, after crashing to defeat in front of a crowd of more than 7,000.

McGreal said: "We've had a downward spiral of results and this performance and result has to be a massive wake-up call for ourselves.

"The fans have come out and paid decent money to watch us against a team who were below us and they haven't got their value for money.

"Even though we’ve been in a dip we’ve performed well but it’s the first time this season I think that hasn’t happened.

“The same things are happening again in both boxes and we didn’t show enough conviction or apply ourselves well enough at both ends of the pitch.

“It’s a poor result but we’re creating opportunities to score goals and I’ve still got tons of belief in the squad.

“It’s up to myself, Steve (Ball) and the players to get us out of this bad form that we’re in.

“I’m gutted about the result but it’s only three points and nothing more than that and I’ll be looking for ways to try and rectify it – there are no excuses for the performance.

“We had opportunities to score goals at times when it’s crucial and we’ve been conceding poor goals of late but we’ll keep working hard to put it right.

"The boys are feeling disappointed in how they performed.

"But there are still 30 games left in this league and it will come good."