Skipper David Fox admits it will now be a “tall order” for Colchester United to stay in League One.

But the U’s playmaker insists they will not be throwing in the towel in their bid to avoid dropping into the fourth tier.

Colchester’s survival hopes suffered a hammer blow when they were beaten 3-2 at home by fellow strugglers Crawley Town, on Saturday.

The U’s head into tomorrow night’s basement battle with Yeovil Town six points adrift of safety with ten games remaining, following a fourth straight defeat.

Fox said: “It’s going to be a tall order but we won’t chuck the towel in.

“If we were seven points adrift with three games to go, we’d be behind the eight ball.

“But it’s difficult to be really down about things when there are still ten games to go and we’ve still got a big crunch game on Tuesday.

“It’s a massive defeat for us but nothing really changes, in terms of the points we need."

For more on this story and five pages of coverage of the U's game with Crawley Town, see Monday's Daily Gazette.