As the old cliché goes, it is a marathon not a sprint.

Much like it is unwise to get carried away by an opening-day win, so too would it be rather foolish to over-react to a defeat, especially with the new League Two season at such an embryonic stage.

But the manner of Colchester United’s disappointing reverse at Accrington Stanley was as alarming as it was disappointing.

The 330 or so U’s fans who had travelled to the Wham Stadium full of pre-season optimism looked as shell-shocked as the players they were supporting at times, such was the nature of the visitors’ below-par performance.

Perhaps it was early-season rustiness but some of Colchester’s defending was fragile, to say the least.

And at the other end, they were wasteful in front of goal at key moments in the game which ultimately contributed to their downfall.

As John McGreal rightly says, his Colchester side are a work in progress.

As a football manager, you live and die by your decisions.

However, given the double substitution he made at half-time when his team trailed 2-0, the U’s head coach might in hindsight be rueing his decision to start talented attacker Drey Wright in an unfamiliar left wing-back role and play two strikers – Denny Johnstone and debutant Mikael Mandron.

It was admittedly a positive move away from home and McGreal’s intention was to generate some extra pace out wide, in the hope of feeding their additional attacking threat.

But his decision to ditch the approach at half-time, sending on Lewis Kinsella as a wing-back and pushing Wright further forward along with introducing goalscorer Sammie Szmodics, resulted in Colchester looking more balanced in the second half.

Of course, the U’s were hardly helped by Tom Eastman’s disruptive injury sustained just before they conceded their second goal.

The last thing they need is another injury to a key player, with the likes of Luke Prosser, Kurtis Guthrie and Brennan Dickenson still out.

McGreal had wanted Colchester to maintain the momentum that they had generated in the final weeks of last season.

So far, that did not happen at Accrington but it is still very early days.

He certainly did not deserve the abuse that came his way from a small minority of U's fans as he walked towards the away changing room in the immediate aftermath of the defeat.

Thankfully, the vast majority of the Colchester supporters who made the long trip up to Lancashire were supportive of the team, while nevertheless naturally disappointed with their side's performance and result.

The Accrington game is gone.

Colchester have a mouth-watering EFL Cup tie against Aston Villa to look forward to now.

It is a chance for them to prove a few people wrong and showcase their talents in front of a bigger crowd at the Weston Homes Community Stadium, in addition to the millions who will be watching it live on television.

What better way than for the U’s to cause a cup upset and get their season up and running in memorable style, on Wednesday night.