Colchester United 0-3 Burton Albion

Lucas Akins (right) celebrates scoring his third goal

Colchester were relegated from League One with a home defeat by Burton, who boosted their own promotion chances.

The U's were reduced to 10 men early on after Joe Edwards was sent off for a late challenge on Matty Palmer.

Lucas Akins' close-range finish put the Brewers ahead on the stroke of half-time despite protests of offside.

Akins then completed his hat-trick after the break with a thumping finish from the edge of the box followed by a clean strike into the bottom corner.

Colchester's relegation comes towards the end of a hugely disappointing season which saw them fail to register a league win in more than four months between late October and early March.

The winless run of 19 matches was finally broken when they beat Bradford on 1 March, but by then they were already rock bottom.

A slight upturn in form over the last few weeks, in which they won three and drew two out of six games, saw Colchester move off the foot of the table.

However, with 95 goals conceded, they could become the first team to let in 100 league goals since Stockport County shipped 102 in the old First Division in 2001-02.

Burton, who came up from League Two last campaign, are now on the verge of winning back-to-back promotions as they sit six points clear of the play-offs in second, with two matches left.