COLCHESTER United boss Paul Lambert admitted that his side failed to create enough scoring chances in a disappointing 2-0 home defeat at the hands of Walsall.

Carl Marston

COLCHESTER United boss Paul Lambert admitted that his side failed to create enough scoring chances in a disappointing 2-0 home defeat at the hands of Walsall.

Goals in each half from Dwayne Mattis and Michael Ricketts handed the Saddlers a third away win of the season, propelling them into the top 10.

By contrast, the U's are now just one place above the relegation zone, and face a difficult trip to high-flying Peterborough next Saturday.

Lambert rued: “It wasn't a fair result in terms of possession, because we had most of that, but we didn't create enough chances.

“As the home team you have to make the running. The effort of the players was not in question, but we couldn't break them down.

“I thought we played a little too narrow for my liking and the end product was not there. We huffed and puffed but had no momentum.

“It was always such hard work to get in any good scoring positions. Their keeper didn't have to make many great saves. We didn't create as much as we should have done.

“You can't play like that and not turn your possession into goals. But it's still a learning curve for me.”

Walsall manager Jimmy Mullen said: “I think we deserved to win. The lads were fantastic today. Once we got our noses in front, I knew it would be difficult for them to get back into the game.

“The second goal killed Colchester off. They had a lot of possession, but didn't really hurt us, even though they ended up playing four up front.

“Defensively we were fantastic. We were diabolical at Luton (in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy), and also got beaten last weekend (by Scunthorpe in the FA Cup), but we deserved to win this game. We've set higher standards today and won it well.”