Colchester United head coach John McGreal admitted their 1-0 defeat at Doncaster Rovers was a tough one to take.

The U's produced a competent performance against their high-flying hosts at the Keepmoat Stadium and created the bulk of the game's clearcut chances.

But they ultimately were left with nothing to show for their efforts, after Tommy Rowe's strike on the stroke of half-time gave Doncaster a victory they barely deserved.

It extended Colchester's winless run in League Two to six games and McGreal said: “It’s tough – the game plan worked to a tee and we created lots of chances but haven’t taken them.

“They’ve been flying but we were by far the better team.

“Credit to Darren (Ferguson) for giving us good praise but it still hurts when you get defeated like that, because we put a lot of work into it and came away with nothing.

“The boys are feeling sore, especially those who missed the opportunities but they have good strength of character.

“It was an outstanding team performance without the result.

“I think we had 14 shots on goal without putting one away but we should be putting one away.”

Colchester were left to rue a lapse in concentration that led to them conceding on the stroke of half-time, a goal that proved to be the all-important winner.

"It looks as though we've switched off for their goal," added McGreal.

"It was a free-kick on the halfway line and a minute has gone up on the board.

"We should have scored just beforehand and we were cursing ourselves on that.

"It was a ball down the side with a midfield runner and then it's a goal and you think "where has that come from?".

"They were at home where they've been very buoyant and winning games of football but they've only had two or three shots and I think we did a number on them today - we just didn't have the result."

For five pages of coverage of the U's game at Doncaster Rovers, see Monday's Gazette.