For God's sake, Steve Whitton - find some players with fire in their belly and a flair and a passion to win every game.

If we were watching a Colchester United side playing flat out for their Second Division survival on Wednesday night then we had better start getting used to the prospect of Third Division football again at Layer Road next August.

There are no excuses, the U's were appalling - and David Brammer's stunning 54th-minute winning goal apart, Part Vale were no better.

I've witnessed more passion and excitement coming from my next door neighbour's little daughter playing with her dolls.

Only one win in nine simply is not good enough and if the U's don't buck up soon it will be too late.

While many of those clubs beneath them are gradually closing the gap, the U's continue to throw away points with careless abandon.

Keep up this form for the remaining 12 matches and relegation will be a certainty.

Only 2,579 fans - the U's lowest League home gate of the season - turned up to watch this drab and scrappy encounter. Those that stayed away didn't miss anything.

To make matters worse, lion-hearted defender Alan White, former club captain Richard Wilkins and the one and only Lomana Tresor Lua Lua were watching from the main stand. It's a shame they weren't on the pitch.

The game cried out for the flair and excitement of a Lua Lua, the brains, guile and passion of a Wilkins and the fire of an out-of-favour White.

And when you miss a gilt-edged last-minute sitter as big Barry Conlon did when he had only the keeper to beat, you don't deserve to win - or even draw in this case.

Brian Horton's Port Vale can be forgiven for looking a little jaded. They were playing their third game - one of them involving extra-time - inside five days.

But they won them all to close the gap behind the U's to just one point with three games in hand and to stretch their recent run to just one defeat in the past 13 matches.

The U's brought in midfielder David Gregory for the unlucky defender White and the move looked to have paid off when Gregory had the ball in the net only 12 minutes into the game.

But fussy referee Paul Robinson immediately wiped the smile off the U's faces by ruling out the goal for a foul on keeper Mark Goodlad.

Aaron Skelton curled a 35-yard free-kick straight to the keeper five minutes later; Conlon ruined the best move of the first half by firing over the bar soon after; Karl Duguid was off-target with a long range shot, and the U's also had appeals for a penalty turned down after Mick Stockwell appeared to have his legs whipped from under him.

Little was seen of Vale as an attacking threat in the first half and their best chance fell to Alex Smith after Skelton gave the ball away on the halfway line.

The second half was no better, but the lively Stockwell was unlucky not to get on the end of a headed pass into the area just two minutes before Brammer stunned the home fans with a brilliant goal out of the blue.

Brammer collected the ball some 30 yards out before unleashing a rising drive past helpless home keeper Andy Woodman into the top corner of the net.

Even this setback failed to spark the U's into more action although Skelton saw a shot deflected for a corner and Duguid had a goalbound header cleared upfield.

The home side were very unlucky not to be on level teams in the 68th minute. Conlon and Stockwell set up Joe Keith yards outside the area and the former West Ham defender curled a 20-yard shot against the angle of bar and post with the keeper beaten.

But no excuses can cover up the incredible last-minute miss by Conlon that would have squared the scores.

Put through by Stockwell with only the keeper to beat from less than eight yards, Conlon allowed Goodlad to stretch out a foot and block his shot when the Irishman should really have broken the net.

Not surprisingly, the U's were roundly booed from the pitch.

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