Ward slams second-half no-show

Colchester boss John Ward was disgusted with his side's second-half display as they went down 4-0 at Tranmere.

The U's were trailing just 1-0 at the break but capitulated after the restart, with Jake Cassidy completing a hat-trick. "I am extremely disappointed," Ward said. "In the second half we didn't stand up to Tranmere and they knocked us about and pulled us apart really. "We started well and we could have been ahead but we didn't respond when we went behind. We went two down and lost our shape. Heads dropped and players went missing from the game. "We talked about how we wanted to go about the game but we kept losing the ball in midfield and we looked dishevelled in the second half. Each goal lifted Tranmere but when you are not working well collectively you have to make sure you work hard as an individual. We have gone behind in previous games and come back as a strong unit but that didn't happen and we have to work out why because it was disturbing. "The players will have to lift themselves now and the joy is that there is always another game. The pity is that we have to wait another week for it but we can use that time to work out what happened and ensure it doesn't happen again."