John McGreal admits his Colchester United side paid the penalty for a missed spot-kick after losing 1-0 at Exeter City this afternoon.

Robbie Simpson scored a second-half winner for the Grecians at St James Park, just 12 minutes after Sammie Szmodics had seen his penalty saved by home keeper Christy Pym.

It was the fourth penalty Colchester have missed this season, of the seven they were rewarded.

And McGreal said: "We've consistently missed penalties this year.

"Szmods has taken it but it didn't look a good pen, in a way.

"We were so much in the ascendancy at the time and it's one where we challenged the boys at half-time to go and win the game.

"They showed an intent and a purpose especially with the number of fans we had turning up, which was a fantastic effort.

"We wanted to get a win for the fans as we have a decent away record and I think you saw that in the second half.

"They started well but I thought we were really in the ascendancy in the second half and the penalty changes things.

"I think Junior has gone for the ball as well but Sam's our penalty taker and I think we've made that clear, throughout the season.

"We missed four of the seven penalties we've had this season and they were all in important parts of the game.

"We should be taking them and then hitting them on the counter attack."

The result means Colchester have finished 13th in the League Two table, this season.

McGreal added: "We're not trying to stand still.

"We've had a really tough run-in of games and we haven't been out-witted by opposition who are looking to go top three or in the play-offs.

"We know where we are and we haven't quite got the goals at key times and that's been the case from Accrington at the start of the season to today.

"But we showed no nerves in the second half, against a really buoyant crowd."