Colchester United head coach John McGreal felt his team’s performance at Carlisle United warranted more than what it got on a frustrating afternoon for the U’s boss.

McGreal said the number of scoring opportunities that his players created against the Cumbrians should have been rewarded with more than the one goal they got.

It was Courtney Senior who put the visitors ahead just before half-time at Brunton Park as he tucked away a loose ball after Kurtis Guthrie’s initial strike had been saved by Carlisle keeper Jack Bonham.

But that was just one of a host of opportunities carved out by a strong attacking display on the road.

So to not take more of them and then be pegged back by Jamie Devitt’s stunning late free-kick as they were pegged back to a 1-1 draw was a bitter pill to swallow for McGreal.

“I think frustrated is the word to describe how I feel,” said the U’s boss.

“Look at the opportunities we created – goal-scoring opportunities – and we should be scoring more goals than we did.

“It would be great to put teams to the sword every once in a while because we are creating numerous chances.

“There was a bit of a lull in the second half and they got a goal.

“We stopped playing for ten minutes and they had two free-kicks, but I can’t think of anything else they had in the second half.

“But we picked it up again after that in the last ten minutes when we had one off the line and we hit the post.

“The stats show that we’ve had 19 or 20 shots on goal; I’m gutted for the result, but gutted for the performance that we couldn’t get the win.

“The performance warranted a very good away win and we didn’t get it.”