COLCHESTER United boss Aidy Boothroyd named the club's travelling support as his man-of-the-match after they endured a seven-goal horror show at Deepdale.

Stuart Watson

By Stuart Watson

COLCHESTER United boss Aidy Boothroyd named the club's travelling support as his man-of-the-match after they endured a seven-goal horror show at Deepdale.

After spending the best part of five hours travelling 270 miles through icy conditions to north Lancashire, around 200 U's fans saw their side thrashed 7-0 by out-of-form Championship side Preston.

However, despite the scoreline equating roughly to �10 in petrol spent for every goal they had to watch their side concede, the stoical away support continued singing until the end.

“It was a very, very, very poor performance and the only thing that was consistent was our fans - they were clapping and singing the whole way through,” said Boothroyd, who sent his well-beaten players over to acknowledge their supporters' efforts at the final whistle.

“I wouldn't say we were overawed by the occasion, but we simply didn't show a good enough account of ourselves.

“I thought before the game that there would be some doubt from them. There was some shock about Alan's (Irvine) departure, their crowds have not been particularly good, so we thought we could come here, carry on our league form, and get something from the game.

“Even if our players had been 60 to 70% on their game then I think we would have had a really good chance of winning. Unfortunately we had players performing at 15 to 20%, while some were at ones and twos.

“Everything that has got us success this season, everything that has become our hallmark, we didn't do. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong, but we'll take it on the chin because we can't blame the referee or bad luck or anything else.

“We want to get to this level (The Championship), but I don't think we started with the attitude that we could be at this level.

“I won't be brushing this under the carpet and writing it off as a freak result, but I've learnt that sometimes you need to go through a horrendous experience in order to get back up again.”