John McGreal insists Colchester United have not under-achieved with their performances this season – despite ending 13 points shy of the League Two play-off places.

The U’s finished 13th following a 1-0 defeat at Exeter City on the final day of the campaign, the club’s lowest league finish for 24 years.

Colchester registered seven fewer points than their final tally last season but head coach McGreal believes his side’s performances have been competitive.

McGreal said: “No I don’t (think we’ve under-achieved points-wise) because I think that’s where we are at and we’re in every single game.

“We haven’t got into the play-offs which was our target but we haven’t under-achieved in our performances.

“We’ve now got a trend going with some of the football we’ve played and some of the boys have put in elite performances and we’ll try and keep hold of them.

“We’ve had some disappointing performances but on the other side of it, we’ve had some really good performances and not got the rewards we deserve.

“We’re hoping now that we can lay this little season to rest, have a good debrief on it and then try and work on it.”