'BITTERSWEET' was the verdict of Colchester boss Anthony O’Riordan as the Blacks played some of their best rugby of the season but came away with just a losing bonus point, by EDWARD MARRIAGE.

High-flying Shelford completed a home-and-away double with a 14-8 win, but were hanging on at the end as Colchester had chances to win it, the hosts’ resolute defence just holding out.

Aside from tries in the opening minutes of each half, Shelford had precious few scoring chances, while Colchester will rue unforced errors for their failure to score more than Connor O’Reilly’s fine individual try.

Director of rugby O’Riordan described it as “a fantastic game of rugby,” but was ultimately a frustrated man.

“The reality is the decisions made in terms of taking points versus going for tries when we had the strongest set-piece are probably what cost us that game in the end.”

Colchester could not have made a worse start, Louie Tang crossing for Shelford with just 76 seconds on the clock.

Colchester gradually worked their way into the match, but it was 18 minutes before they made a serious incursion into the Shelford 22, a knock-on ending the attack.

Moments later Shelford were down to 14, the open-side sent to the bin for playing the ball on the ground.

Rather than take the straightforward kick at goal, Colchester opted for a scrum but another handling error allowed Shelford to break clear, and only O’Reilly’s tackle prevented a try.

Fly-half Harry Bureau’s penalty from 40 metres on the angle went narrowly wide, as did a second effort just before half-time.

Turning round 7-0 up, Shelford started the second half in the same explosive style as the first, full-back Jack Brosnan exploiting a leaky Colchester defensive effort to score their second try.

But from then on Colchester had much the better of things, creating numerous opportunities with Harrison Pickett and Sam Butler to the fore, but all too often the visitors failed to convert thanks to frustrating handling errors.

Colchester rang the changes with Haydn Sykes coming on for Alex Gerard and Harvey Skinner replacing Toby Eaton.

The visitors finally got on the board with Bureau’s penalty midway through the half, and by now the game settled into a pattern of Colchester attack and Shelford defence.

The Blacks got their deserved try 25 minutes into the half, O’Reilly’s combination of low-slung strength and dogged perseverance taking him over in the corner.

The conversion missed, Colchester set about scoring a second try. With the clock in the red and Shelford repeatedly failing to get the ball off the pitch Colchester had the chance to snatch an unlikely win.

The celebrations by the home players and supporters at the final whistle indicated their relief as well as showing how close Colchester had pushed one of the league’s most consistent teams.

“I would say in terms of the style of rugby played with intent, we were the better side,” said O’Riordan. “But points mean prizes and they won the game.”

Colchester drop to fifth in London 1 North, with a game in hand. Next up on Saturday is a match against 10th placed Old Haberdashers at Raven Park.