COLCHESTER United interim boss Ross Embleton admitted their 2-0 defeat at Bradford City was a tough one to take.

Stoppage-time goals from Andy Cook and Scott Banks condemned the U's to defeat, in front of a crowd of more than 20,000 at the University of Bradford Stadium.

It was a cruel defeat for Colchester, who had produced an impressive performance for the bulk of the game before the hosts pushed hard towards the end.

New U's head coach Ben Garner, who was watching from the stands, officially takes charge of the team on Monday and Embleton believes there are plenty of positives to take from the display, despite the result.

Embleton said: "That's a tough one to take.

"Let's be straight up and say it was disappointing to concede from a set piece so late in the game.

"But before the game and in the last few days, I've asked the players to show some big whatsits to go out into an arena like this and back themselves with the ball, to be positive in the way that we try to play the game and try to creat opportunities.

"I'm extremely proud of them to have gone and done that, in the manner that they did today, in front of a crowd like this.

"We set out with a game plan in the early stages to close the place down a little bit and I felt we did that.

"We got to 60-70 minutes and I really felt we would be the ones to go and get it.

"We certainly deserved a point and when you look at the open chances we created, I think we created the better ones.

"I'm extremely disappointed we haven't converted the chances that we had.

"I spoke in the week and said that I wanted us to refine what we were about in the final third and finish off the opportunities that might come our way and we did that today.

"We got into some glaring positions in front of goal and should do better.

"I spoke to the players about being brave and being positive in the possession that we had.

"I thought there were some outstanding moves and some really good individual performances.

"I don't think there's many that you could pick out who didn't do particularly well today.

"There's nothing that I can say that's going to pick anybody up.

"However, if we're going to analyse performance and look towards the future, if that's a sign of things to come then I think the future looks bright."