COLCHESTER and East Essex captain Jake Foley admits a dip in form last month contributed to their downfall after they missed out on promotion.

The Castle Park side will now start planning for another season in Shepherd Neame Essex League division one, after finishing fourth and missing out on a top-two finish by 17 points.

Colchester won their last two games – including a thumping final-day 117-run defeat of Gidea Park and Romford.

But they were ultimately made to pay for a three-match winless run last month, which included a costly defeat to Belhus who went on to secure promotion.

Foley said: “It was a shame that we didn’t get promoted because that was our aim at the start of the season but we can’t dwell on it too much.

“We did well in our last two games but we didn’t win in the three games before that and that was where we lost it.

“When we played Belhus a few weeks ago it was a massive game and there was always a feeling that whoever won that game would end up going up, which is what happened.

“There are so many things that have happened in games that you can look at when looking back on the season as a whole.

“And it’s always hard when the side keeps changing, with players coming in and out.

“But there were still a lot of good individual and team performances, over the course of the season.”

Colchester finished the campaign on a high, after comfortably seeing off Gidea Park and Romford at Castle Park.

After winning the toss and electing to bat first, opener Joe MacGregor continued his fine recent form by top scoring with 86, off 106 balls.

All of Colchester’s top-six batters made it into double figures, as they were dismissed for 217.

Gidea Park and Romford lost wickets at regular intervals, with Denson Narayan (3-18) and Taurai Muzarabani (3-37) the pick of the bowlers as the visitors were dismissed for 100 in little more than 30 overs.

“It was a good win and a good way for us to end the season,” added Foley.

“We had to just look after ourselves which is what we did by getting the 25 points we wanted.

“But it was almost over as soon as it had begun, with Belhus getting the runs they needed in their game.”

Colchester’s second team (147 for eight) completed their season with a ten-wicket defeat to Hornchurch (150-0), in the Second XI premier division.