Colchester United assistant manager Mark Kinsella admitted their 4-0 home defeat against Notts County was "hugely disappointing".

The U's were thrashed by a Magpies side who had started the day bottom of the League One table and without a league away win all season.

Kinsella said: “You can’t paper over the cracks – the performance just wasn’t good enough and we can’t accept it.

“It was hugely disappointing.

“Everyone expects you to beat the bottom of the table side when they come to your home ground.

“We did our homework on them and they’re not as bad as their league position suggests.

“They’ve got some talented players and they’re an attacking threat and we knew that but it was disappointing and we never really gave ourselves a chance.

“It’s difficult to put your finger on why it happened but there are a lot of clubs and managers in the same boat.

“Once the players go out on the pitch it’s down to them and it’s very disappointing when we don’t put all we worked on out on the pitch.

“We never got a foothold in the game and we always seemed to be chasing it.

“At 2-0 we had a go in the second half but with the quality that they’ve got, if you leave them space they’re going to cause you problems and they scored two before the end."

For five pages of coverage on the U's game with Notts County, see Monday's Daily Gazette.