John McGreal’s typically upbeat nature will probably mean he will not dwell too long on the more disappointing elements of the campaign when he holds his post-season debrief with his Colchester United players at Florence Park tomorrow.

That will no doubt be something that is analysed and scrutinised over time.

But while the U’s head coach was generally pleased with the majority of his team’s performances if not always results over the past nine months, it was ultimately a frustrating League Two season that started and ended in losing fashion.

McGreal was rightly encouraged by his team’s bright second-half performance at promotion-chasing Exeter City, on the final day of the League Two campaign.

On another day, Colchester might have come away with a victory at St James Park, especially if Sammie Szmodics had converted the penalty awarded to them on the hour mark with the score at 0-0.

But the trouble is that too many times this season, key moments such as that have gone against the U’s at both ends of the pitch; that is ultimately why they have finished in the bottom half of the table.

Perhaps the warning signs were there from the very beginning.

Colchester’s 3-1 defeat at Accrington Stanley on the opening day of the campaign was a chastising experience, albeit against a side that ultimately would go on and win promotion as champions of the division.

Only three of the players that started the game at the Crown Ground were named in the U’s starting line-up for Exeter.

The side that McGreal sent out at St James Park admittedly had something of an experimental feel to it, with the likes of Dillon Barnes, Ryan Gondoh and Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe who featured having made only a handful of league starts between them.

But it is perhaps telling that Colchester’s line-up has rarely been settled for long, during a frustrating year.

It’s also a reflection of the fact that aside from a bumper 11-point haul in December and a three-match winning streak over the Easter period, inconsistency has contributed to the U’s lowest league finish in 24 years.

There have been some positive moments but on the whole, this rather mediocre season will not be one that lives long in the memory of Colchester United fans.