Humes admits late equaliser was hard to take after U's are denied precious win

But the U's boss is still optimistic that his side can avoid relegation, with three games remaining.

Colchester looked to be heading towards three precious points after two goals in four minutes from Tom Eastman and Chris Porter put them ahead, after they had trailed to Theo Robinson's fine first-half strike.

But substitute Hakeeb Adelakun came off the bench to score with a deflected shot in the second minute of stoppage-time to break U's hearts and leave them four points adrift of safety, with three games to go.

Humes said: “It’s hard to take but the game is not over until it’s over.

“We put ourselves into a great position and it hasn’t happened for us but there are still three games to go and we have to see what we can get.

“It was difficult with everything that was going on and it wasn’t the easiest for the players.

“But they stuck together and they’ve shown that all season – they keep going and they were seconds away from getting a win.

"Our football wasn't great at times but we stuck to our principles and we tried to keep doing the right things and how we want to play.

"We caused them a few problems in the second half and we got two good goals out of it."

Colchester head to Fleetwood Town next Saturday for their final away game of the season, knowing time is running out for them to preserve their League One status.

But Humes said: "We have to believe that we have enough to get out of it, otherwise it shows a massive lack of backbone if we don't turn up for the last three games.

"We have to keep going and battle like we did today.

"It's happened now and we have to pick ourselves up - we have three games left to play and while there are points to play for, the players have got to go and play for them.

"The luck might change next week for us and that's what we've got to believe in."

For five pages of coverage of the U's game against Scunthorpe United, see Monday's Daily Gazette.