GOOD so far...but could be even better.

That might well be the quarterly report on Colchester United’s opening 12 games of the League Two season.

There are plenty of encouraging signs for John McGreal and his players.

They lie just a point and a place off the play-off positions, boast the most superior scoring record in the division and one of the best in the country and have lost only once on their travels, so far.

That defeat came at Stevenage last weekend and there can’t be too many times McGreal has been more disappointed with his team’s showing, in the immediate aftermath of a match.

It is pretty rare that the Colchester head coach is critical of his players in public but you could hear the anger in his voice, in the immediate aftermath of their 3-1 defeat at Stevenage.

To his credit, McGreal did not try to dress up their inexplicably below-par second-half display, at Broadhall Way.

Instead, he seemed to be as baffled as everyone else at Colchester’s inability to maintain their impressive showing in the opening quarter of the contest, where they were completely on top.

Now, McGreal must pick the pieces up after this defeat and get to the bottom of exactly why his side produced such a lacklustre showing in the final hour of the game.

It was perplexing, particularly given how well his U’s team have performed this season both at home and away in League Two.

Colchester have now dropped out of the top seven – where they had wanted to stay throughout the campaign – and lie five points off the automatic promotion places.

Their unbeaten away league record has now gone and they have now conceded six goals in their last two games, on their travels.

Perhaps equally as worrying is their inability to hold on to a lead on the road in those matches, where they have allowed the opposition a foothold back into the contest.

That has happened in each of their last two away games and six of the 14 goals Colchester have conceded have come after the 80th minute.

But one poor result and performance should not define them as a team.

While Colchester they now find themselves out of the play-off positions, the top half of the table remains congested.

Colchester’s next game is this weekend at home to Crawley Town - with whom they are now level on points – and represents a chance for them to rediscover their early-season form as promotion candidates.

And before that, the Checkatrade Trophy game against rivals Southend United tomorrow night might be a good opportunity for some of the U’s players who featured at Stevenage to quickly get that loss out of their system, which they have done after each of their other two league defeats this season.