Colchester United boss Danny Cowley said that their 2-1 extra-time defeat to Swindon Town in the FA Cup was a tough one to take.

The U’s, who are level on points with Town in the league, took the lead in the second half courtesy of Harry Anderson before Joel McGregor and Kabongo Tshimanga struck to see Swindon through after 120 minutes.

Cowley told club media after the game that it was a difficult result to swallow because of the way he felt his side had controlled the game.

 

 

He said: “It is a tough one for us to take, particularly after getting in such a good position in the game and I thought that we worked very hard to get into the position we were in.

“I thought that we played with some good control, especially when you consider the unavailability we had at the top end of the pitch.

“We conceded a really poor goal and that changed the momentum of the tie and the feeling in the stadium, I thought the supporters were getting really frustrated.

“It is a big crowd, an expectant crowd and with a manager in their first game and we had the opportunity to deal with it.

“At 1-1, they have the momentum but we did well to wrestle that and get to extra time but in football, you make your own luck.”

Cowley was especially disappointed with the manner in which Colchester conceded the winner, when George Cox’s long throw was flicked on by Harry Smith into the path of Tshimanga to lash home from close range.

He said: “If you concede goals like we did, both goals, but the second goal, I have never seen a goal like that in all of my time in football and I have certainly never been involved in conceding a goal like that.

“It is just a long throw, we had been dealing with long throws all game, and we have clear roles in that position.

“We know they are going to throw it to Harry Smith, so we have someone fighting on the front and height behind him – or we should have – but we don’t get it right.

“The ball gets thrown in and it is just a flick on and their forward ends up having about three touches and turning and poking it in as he had so much time.

“It is so frustrating because we work on these things and we keep conceding these goals.”