BY the time the final whistle sounded, Colchester United and their supporters must have had the Trumpet Hornpipe, perhaps better known as the Captain Pugwash theme tune, ringing in their ears.
Its jaunty little melody sounded out loudly around the Highbury Stadium after every Fleetwood Town goal went in, much to the delight of the home fans but in contrast, the disdain of the U’s for whom it merely rubbed further salt into the wounds on a choppy day on the Fylde Coast peninsula.
Perhaps the worst thing about Colchester’s 4-2 defeat was that we all saw just how good they can be this season, on their day.
READ MORE: Every word Danny Cowley said after U's defeat at Fleetwood
Their impressive display in the opening 45 minutes was arguably up there with anything they have produced in any half of football, this season.
Fleetwood struggled to deal with Colchester’s attacking play, prompting Pete Wild to switch from a 4-2-3-1 to a 3-5-2 system at half-time, in order to try and deal with the vibrant visitors.
Afterwards, the Cod Army boss described his team's first-half display as 'rubbish'.
It was very different for Colchester, who were excellent before the interval.
“The first half was probably as well as we’ve played since I’ve been at the club,” said U’s boss Danny Cowley, as he reflected on his side’s yo-yo away performance.
Before half-time, Colchester had two goals to show for their efforts, following Kyreece Lisbie’s third-minute strike and Jack Payne’s penalty.
But despite their dominance, the U’s advantage was a slender one at the break following an Ethan Ennis strike, which was sandwiched in between the two visitors’ goals.
Colchester’s performance deteriorated alarmingly after the break.
All of their good attacking play produced in the first half seemed to fade away, replaced by shoddy marking, careless ball retention and poor positional play.
READ MORE: Match report as Colchester United are beaten at Fleetwood
True, they were still in the contest by the time Mark Helm sealed Fleetwood’s comeback win in stoppage time but it felt like psychologically, by that point they were already beaten.
Jordan Davies’ brace had played a big part in that but Colchester were also their own worst enemies after the break, seemingly forgetting the main characteristics required of an away performance replaced by a ragged, incoherent showing which allowed their hosts to access a ‘get out of jail free’ card.
Some of it was down to poor decision making at crucial times but also lapses in concentration and focus when it matters most.
This game seemed to epitomise Colchester’s season so far, with ten games gone.
They have shown plenty of promise and potential but not consistently enough and at times, have lacked leadership and belief which has contributed to a seven-game winless run, in League Two.
It has not helped that experienced players like Ellis Iandolo, Tom Flanagan and Will Goodwin are currently sidelined and their presence may well have helped the U’s manage the second half better at Fleetwood, while Ben Perry is also proving a big miss.
Nevertheless, Colchester still managed pretty well without them in the first half at Highbury Stadium and the truth is that the U’s need to find a way of producing a more rounded all-round performance on a more consistent basis, if they are to rise up the table and away from the relegation zone.
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