Colchester manager John Ward spoke to BBC Radio Essex after his side's 1-1 League One draw at home to Carlisle, Ward frustrated after the U's fifth draw in a row :
"It is frustrating, we have just said to the boys in the dressing room that we have just played four teams out of the top six, we have not lost to any of them and we have come in disappointed in at least two of those games you know, Huddersfield and today really. But, that is the way the game goes and I have got a frustrated dressing room with one or two chins down after having no defeats in the last nine football matches.
"I want to win as much as everybody else does but we have just seen another really good game of football with two very good teams. I think that has been the plus side of the last four matches, and certainly the last three we have had here against these top sides is that we are amongst the good sides in the division at this moment in time.
"Yeah, I want to win, I don't want to draw, but I don't want to get beat, so it is just putting it all in the right perspective. We have done a lot of good things today as I say against a team that is in a good position, we haven't lost ground to them, so if you want to look it at that way, but we haven't gained ground on them either, and that is what we were hoping to do.
"We were the same as them today, we are getting plaudits for being a hard team to break down and we were the same today. Both teams, I am not saying we have only had one chance each because there have been other little bits and pieces but they have had to be worked have the two goals today.
"We said that at half-time, we could easily sit there and say nothing has happened in the game, but there is a lot has happened in that first-half and a goal might open the game up a little bit and it did. It sounds a silly thing to say but maybe it was a little bit too early for us, but we just dropped off the pace after the goal and I found that a little bit annoying that we invited Carlisle on."
"They lifted up the game again, had a good 15 minutes, found a goal and then they dropped off and we came back into it again, it was that type of football match. I think if anybody was going to find a goal in the last ten or fifteen minutes of the game it was ourselves and we couldn't quite do that. So, mixed feelings for me at the minute, but there are a lot of good things I will reflect upon with this team because that is the way I do look at it.
"Martin Rowlands injured himself just after the goal, at half-time I said to him to just give me a good shout on how long he was going to be and all those sorts of things and if he could get through. He said no and that he was enjoying it and he felt great at half-time, so he was ready to go the full duration in the second-half.
"Then after the goal he has felt his groin again, so it is a shame really because we were preparing maybe for 25 minutes of him and take him out of it. But, we had to do it a little bit earlier and it looks like he will miss a bit more which is a pity. He has done well because he is about as quick as me at the minute, so for him to get that far with the ball for the goal with the control that he did, he is a good footballer.
"Martin has got a fantastic pedigree and we have seen that here, we have all appreciated what he has done and what have you. It is a shame in a sense that it is towards the latter part of his career and he is picking up these bits and pieces that are giving him a problem. So, it is a shame but we have seen some good things, it is a super goal and there are a lot of good things for our supporters to see here, it is just a shame we are not going to get Martin out there a little bit more.
"There is a player who has gone in there and he has put his hand up for their equaliser that he made a mistake, I am not going to name names because it is not the way we do it. We work hard together, but I have got an honest group of individuals in there and we have got one that says he made a mess up of that one."
"Like we have said before, it is like when Woody (Anthony Wordsworth) misses his penalty, or doesn't score the penalty against Huddersfield, Kemmy (Kemal Izzet) came out and said that he has won enough games and enough points for us, these things happen. We are alright, it is a shame as I say we couldn't get through that, but I thought we backed off a little bit as a group rather than an individual mistake, but they happen in a game of football and we have got to deal with it.
"We came really strong in the latter part of the game, in the last 15 minutes, and it was always in my view going to be that kind of game where there would be little patches of form or ascendency. We came strong at the final bit, but got in a couple of good positions and couldn't quite finish it off, otherwise everyone would be happy, and I think the late penalty appeal would have been fortunate had we got it.
"The goalkeeper (Adam Collin) has kept out Wordsworth's shot, at that stage it doesn't matter how he has done it. He has come off with a bloody nose but he will be happy enough with that, it was one of those that you just want it one side or the other because there is enough pace and power on it. But, that is the game, there are a lot of good things that are happening at our football club and it is a shame we have just not got another point or two to add to what we probably deserve, but sometimes you don't always get it.
"I have just said to the guys, we get up and we go again for Tuesday because that is how it has got to be, there is no respite at this moment in time, we can do that after Exeter just for a short period. But, at the moment we are back in the training ground, back at the football club on Monday.
"I have told them that I want a smile on their faces, I want a good morning in the corridor and I want some boots on and on a bus on Tuesday to go and play another game, and if we can maintain the approach and the attitude that we have we will try to give ourselves a chance of winning that one."