O’s boss Russell Slade thought his side caused their own downfall as they lost 2-0 to the 10 men of Colchester United yesterday.

The game was goalless at the break with Magnus Okuonghae sent off for the U’s following a two-footed tackle on David Mooney late in the half.

But despite the man advantage, Tony Humes’ side played counter attacking football in the second period, and along with an error-strewn defensive performance Sanchez Watt and Freddie Sears saw the O’s slip to defeat at Brisbane Road.

And Slade felt his side pressed the ‘self destruct’ button with some ‘woeful’ defending.

“In the first half I thought we were by far the better team and I thought we had set ourselves up for the second half,” said Slade.

“I thought we could have been in front in the first period but we pressed the self destruct button in the second half.

“Some of the defending was woeful and as a group we let everyone down, they let me down, themselves down, and the fans down during the second period against the 10 men.”

And rather than make it hard for the 10 men, Slade believed his side handed it on a plate for the visitors.

“They are a counter attack team, they have that little bit of pace but as a group you have got to keep that balance,” he added.

“They’ve not created those goals, we have pretty much gifted them both and that’s the disappointing side of it.”