LUKE Norris admits he was ‘totally in the wrong’ after reacting angrily to being substituted during Colchester United’s 0-0 draw with Morecambe.

The U’s joint leading scorer could not hide his frustration after being taken off with 17 minutes remaining in the stalemate, at the JobServe Community Stadium.

The 25-year-old initially appeared reluctant to shake head coach John McGreal’s hand as he stormed towards the bench after being replaced by Mikael Mandron.

Norris said: “I apologise for that – it was just one of those things.

“I was totally in the wrong in the way I reacted.

“I just want to win and it’s been frustrating over Christmas because we’ve put ourselves in such a good position after the MK Dons win and I felt we could have got a lot more against both Stevenage and Morecambe.

“There was nothing to it though - it was a bit of seeing red and just the frustration of wanting to do well.”

Norris admits Colchester’s goal-less draw with Morecambe was a frustrating result, especially on the back of their 2-1 home defeat at the hands of Stevenage on Boxing Day.

“We’ve had more than enough in both games to get more out of them but we’re in a little bit of a sticky patch at the moment, here at home,” said the former Brentford striker, who has scored eight times so far, this season.

“Morecambe made it hard for us – it seems to be a common tactic from teams coming here and they know what we’re capable of.

“We need to find almost another a way of breaking them down and getting the three points.

“It was just the final ball and final touch – nothing seemed to drop in the right way and sometimes, that’s football.

“We do need a bit of luck when we’re out here playing well.

“Kane (Vincent-Young) hit the post and I thought he was brilliant for us.

“It seems that way at the moment and we need a magical moment to win a game.”

Norris is hoping to help fourth-placed Colchester get back to winning ways when they travel to play Crawley Town, on New Year’s Day.

He added: “We had a great 3-1 win against Crawley earlier in the season and hopefully we can do something similar there.

“We’ve been good away from home and hopefully we can get back on that winning path.

“The other results went our way so hopefully we can get back to winning ways, get three points and start the New Year in a better way to how we’ve ended it.

“Had you asked us or any Colchester fans at the start of the year would you want to be sitting fourth at the end of this year, I think everyone would have snapped your hand off.

“There’s a lot of positivity and it’s just a shame that a bit of negative stuff has ended the year – hopefully we can change that in the New Year.

“Promotions don’t come around often and a lot of teams are dropping points so we just need to get back and have a little run.”