COLCHESTER United manager Matt Bloomfield felt his side “could have scored three or four” against Swindon Town during the 1-0 victory for the Essex club on New Year’s Day.

In the end, Luke Hannant’s half-chance from a corner resulted in the only goal of the game in the 30th minute.

But the U’s squandered a couple more excellent opportunities to push Town’s face further into the dirt.

MATCH REPORT: Hannant scores winner as United punish tame Town.

REACTION: Gladwin provides brutal assessment on Swindon's display at Colchester.

Samson Tovide appeared to be clean-through on goal during the first half but opted to pass the ball on to his right with Swindon’s defence scrambling.

Town stopper Sol Brynn also made a couple of strong saves to deny Noah Chilvers and Al-Amin Kazeem in quick succession during the second period.

Post-match, Bloomfield admitted his side was second best in the early stages but felt Colchester recovered brilliantly to deservedly take victory.

He said: “I’m really proud of the boys and the way they went about their business. I was really proud of our endeavour and the togetherness we showed.

“I thought Swindon passed the ball really well. We know that they’re a possession-based team and I really respect the way they go about their business.

“I really like their coaching staff, they’re good people but we obviously set ourselves up to nullify that as much as we could but to also offer a threat on the counter attack. On another day, I think we could have had three or four goals.

“We made a slow start and that’s certainly not how we wanted to go about it. But as the half wore on, we got more comfortable with our shape.

“We were too flat as a five in the first 15 minutes but then we got our wing-backs high and we got pressure on and when we nicked it, we hit them on the counter.”