Cowley vows Colchester will fight 'to bitter end'

Danny Cowley has previously managed Lincoln City, Huddersfield Town and Portsmouth

Colchester United boss Danny Cowley has promised they will "go right to the bitter end" despite their play-off bid now appearing likely to end in failure.

Colchester were beaten 4-1 at Salford City on Saturday, an untimely second successive defeat for the U's, having reached the top seven following a 0-0 draw with Crewe earlier this month.

Cowley's team must now beat Barrow at home on Saturday and hope that none of Salford, Grimsby Town or Chesterfield manage a victory.

But even a draw could be good enough for Salford as their goal difference is superior by five than Colchester's

"While there is a one per cent opportunity to get into the play-offs, we will fight for it," Cowley told BBC Essex Sport.

"It's a huge disappointment (to lose again) and as a consequence there'll be a lot of regret for all of us, but we want to finish strong - we have made big strides as a football club.

"This is a crazy, crazy league and football is wonderful game because you never know. This is ultimately why we all love the game so much.

"We will suck this disappointment up and try to react. We have one game left, at home - we owe ourselves a performance, we certainly owe the supporters a performance, and we'll certainly try to give them that come Saturday."

Colchester have been a League Two club since relegation in 2016 and since finishing sixth in the Covid-affected season in 2020 have done no better than 15th place.

Their hopes of a positive result at Salford were undermined by a goal almost straight from the kick-off and they were 3-0 down by half-time.

"It's the hope that kills you and we've given people a lot of hope," added Cowley, who was appointed in January 2024 on a contract to run until the end of next season.

"It was the quickest in nearly 1,000 games of football my team has ever conceded goal - 80 seconds, the penalty.

"It's not like we didn't know what was coming, they do the same pretty regularly, they go back to the goalkeeper, kick it long to Haji Mnoga and he tries to flick it in behind.

"We didn't have any contact, we didn't deal with it and in the first 20 minutes we didn't make a tackle, didn't make a pass."