John McGreal admitted his Colchester United side lacked their usual "zip" after they were beaten 1-0 by Carlisle United at the Weston Homes Community Stadium.

U's head coach McGreal conceded his side produced a disappointing performance, after substitute Jamie Devitt's strike just before the hour condemned them to a home loss and inflicted upon them a first defeat in four matches, in League Two.

Colchester had their chances to score but found Carlisle goalkeeper Jack Bonham in fine form, with the shot-stopper denying the likes of Kyel Reid and Brandon Hanlan in the first half and then foiling Hanlon, Sean Murray and Drey Wright after the break, on a frustrating day for the U's.

McGreal said: “We didn’t have our zip today.

“We beat the table-toppers (Mansfield Town) as such last week and we wanted to come back home and keep winning games.

“It was a bit of a drab first half but it just didn’t feel like us today and it was a disappointing performance.

“The first half was tight and a little bit of nip and tuck.

“In the second half, we tried to come up with something and had we scored, it’s a different game altogether but to concede soon after that was a killer blow for us.

“When we were trying to huff and puff, we just seemed to find Clint Hill’s head – and if it wasn’t his head it was his partner’s – and that was disappointing.

“Their goal just knocked the stuffing out of us a little bit.

“We didn’t feel that zip of what we’ve been doing.

“We all thought Brandon Hanlan was a certain goalscorer after Sean Murray’s shot was saved but it wasn’t to be.

“We have these opportunities every week and keepers are putting in some good performances.

“But I don’t want to take anything away from Carlisle or from their defence because I thought that they were excellent, as well.”