COLCHESTER United boss Tony Humes has urged his players to bounce back and focus on tonight’s “massively important” home game against Crewe.

The U’s were left deflated after a bitterly disappointing 4-1 defeat at Millwall, on Saturday.

It left them just three points above the relegation zone, having lost their last three league games and six of their last eight.

However, Humes insists the players must put it behind them and get back on track against the bottom-of-the-table Railwaymen.

“We have to get over this,” said the U’s boss.

“We have to pick the players up and put a performance in because the next game is massively important.

“It’s a real chance to get back to winning ways and we have to lick our wounds, do things right and put it into practice.

“We said that after Coventry and got a defensive display like we did against Millwall.

“But we have to look at putting it right - that’s all we can do.”

Humes admitted it was difficult to feel upbeat after Saturday’s defeat.

“We try to get the positives out of everything but it’s so hard,” he said.

“It’s so frustrating, when you look at the talented players we’ve got out there.

“It’s difficult when you’re defending like that and you’re always chasing a game.

“But all we can do is turn it round and prepare ourselves for Crewe.

“We have to look at that game as a game we should win.

“However, we’re only going to do that by doing things right and players taking responsibility dealing with the ball - that’s ultimately what it is.

“The good thing is that the players are still trying to play the way we want to play but it’s so difficult for them in an attacking sense when the people behind them just aren’t dealing with the ball or doing their job.”

Despite his disappointment, Humes had some words of praise for Alex Gilbey and Gavin Massey.

The latter was played in an unaccustomed central midfield role.

“Alex, overall, has had a very good game,” he said.

“He’s probably been one of our best players and he’s taken responsibility.

“He got us playing in the role that we wanted him in and, overall, he did really well.

“I also thought Gavin did fine – it was a role we didn’t want him to play in first thing in the morning but we had to make a few changes and we had to do what we thought was right for the team.

“He gave us that energy and Alex gave us a good anchor in the middle of the park to allow players to cause them problems, which I thought they did in the first half.

“We played against a very organised side who were functional and they did their jobs properly.”