Colchester wasted Trophy opportunity - Tucker

Colchester United defender Jack Tucker admitted they had wasted an opportunity to go "deep" in the Vertu Trophy after losing to West Ham's Under-21 side.

A last-16 home tie against AFC Wimbledon was at stake and the U's went into the game in confident mood after a four-match unbeaten run in League Two, including three wins.

But George Earthy scored in the 17th minute for the young Hammers and Danny Cowley's side failed to produce a reply.

"It's the one in which we had the most realistic chance of getting to Wembley bar any play-offs at the end of the season, but it was an opportunity we didn't grasp," Tucker told BBC Essex.

"The first three games in the competition, we had a lot of endeavour and put a lot into the games, so it was definitely not a case of not wanting to progress, we really did - we were desperate to."

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Boss Danny Cowley made wholesale changes to his line-up following Saturday's draw with Gillingham, but Tucker said that could not be used as an excuse for their performance.

"Towards the end, we put a lot of pressure on them and had a lot of territory in their half and their box, and ultimately the chances we created should have warranted a goal but the first 60 (minutes) was unacceptable on all levels," he said.

"The energy and intensity wasn't there, it just didn't look like the Colchester team I've seen recently. There were a lot of changes, but that's not stopped us in the previous three games in this competition.

"You can't expect to get things out of games of football when you only play well for 30 minutes.

"It's a wake-up call for some of the lads; the level has to be there every day, you can't turn it on and off."

Colchester - who reached the 1997 final but lost to Carlisle United on penalties -should have equalised in added time at the end of the game, but Micah Mbick's penalty was saved and keeper Finlay Herrick also kept out his follow-up effort.

"I'm disappointed for Micah, he'll be beating himself up, but the character he is, I'm sure he won't let it get him down. We didn't lose because of that moment, we lost the match because of the 60-minute performance before that."