COLCHESTER United boss John McGreal said he was 'bitterly disappointed' after seeing his side suffer a narrow 1-0 loss at Plymouth Argyle, this afternoon.

Antoni Sarcevic's strike early in the second half gave the Pilgrims victory and condemned the U's to their first defeat of the new League Two campaign.

Colchester had enough possession and created enough in the final third to claim something from the game at Home Park but left point-less, much to McGreal's frustration.

He said: "We're bitterly disappointed to come away with nothing.

"You can hear a pin drop (in the changing room) knowing how much hard work has gone in.

"But on the other side of it, if we continue to perform at these levels that we are at the moment, it's got to change.

"Tactically, I thought we were absolutely spot on.

"I thought we caused them problems at times and nullified everything they had.

"We had them on the back foot, with a strong wind against us.

"We started the second half particularly well and I think the goal came against the run of play, with people just getting back into shape.

"It took the wind out of our sails a little bit for five or ten minutes but I thought we grew again after that.

"The subs came on and affected the game and it's bitterly disappointing to lose.

"The fans were applauding the players afterwards because these are the pre-season favourites.

"Lowey (Ryan Lowe) has done a terrific job, enticing the big Bury players who won the league last year.

"He's come against our team today knowing that he's done well to get the three points out of it."

Both sides had to contend with windy conditions in Devon and boss McGreal felt they should have got something from the game.

He added: "We were forcing errors from them and we thought then with the wind in our sails and the way the conditions were, we felt we needed our full-backs in the game.

"I thought we did that in the early part of the game.

"I thought we started really well and a goal would have given us an injection of belief.

"They hit the post and the goal came from sloppy defensive play from us shape wise. "We grew into the game more after that and it's the quality of the cross in the box, or the final pass, or the final shot.

"That's the game for me."

More than 200 Colchester fans made the long trip down to Plymouth to see their side in action.

McGreal added: "They're coming in numbers - for such a small club to come all the way this far.

"We're talking 6, 7, 8am leave this morning and we wanted to put in a performance.

"They've got that but we didn't get the rewards."