Joe Dunne was left to rue Colchester United's misfortune following his side's 2-1 home defeat against Crewe Alexandra.

The U's created more goalscoring opportunities than their opponents at the Weston Homes Community Stadium but ultimately had nothing to show for their efforts.

Goals from Luke Murphy and Mathias Pogba gave the Railwaymen victory, despite George Porter's fine equaliser for the U's just before half-time.

Dunne said: “That’s football and it can be cruel sometimes; sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t but I thought we were great after the first 20 minutes.

“There’s no-one in the stadium who can question our attitude and commitment and we should have won the game.

“A few things went against us but generally, I’m pleased with what I thought was a very good performance.

“We had a very difficult 20 minutes in the first half and made changes, one of which was forced and one that wasn’t.

“That brought us back into the game and I thought that we deserved something from it.

“I thought that there was only one team that was going to win the game in the second half.

“We forced the issue and had balls flashing across the box and missed open goals.

“We’ve also had a couple of penalty shouts ourselves and I can’t ask too much more from my players."

See Monday's Gazette for more reaction and a full match report and pictures from the U's game with Crewe, plus a tribute to former U's manager Dick Graham.