Five-star Shakers Tutte-rly brilliant
COLCHESTER boss Kevin Keen admitted their fight to remain in League One will be “very, very tough” after his ten-man side blew a two-goal lead to be thrashed by Bury.
Chris Porter and Gavin Massey handed the U’s the advantage, but Tom Eastman was sent off and Ryan Lowe halved the deficit before half-time.
Colchester experienced a second-half meltdown as they succumbed to Andrew Tutte’s hat-trick and Craig Jones’ strike, with U's boss Keen believing that Eastman’s dismissal was a key moment.
“It’s going to be very, very tough, but we just keep working hard.” he said.“I say it every week to just try and keep working hard and doing the right things.
“It’s obviously a massive moment in the game and not just that, the fact that they score off the free-kick as well was a real double whammy.
“It wasn’t good, the defending wasn’t good on any of the goals.
“At the end of the day, we’ve come away with another really, really disappointing result and I’ve got to say the supporters had a big part in the firsthalf, really fantastic, and I understand their frustrations totally.”
The U’s took a fourth minute lead when Porter slotted past Ian Lawlor after good work from Massey, while the latter doubled Colchester’s advantage with a shot which crept in.
But they endured a nightmare 60 seconds when Eastman collected a second yellow after fouling Leon Clarke, with Lowe’s low 34th minute header from Tutte’s resulting free-kick halving the deficit.
Bury’s triple half-time substitution paid instant dividends as Lowe burst into the box and Tutte met the 49th minute cross to draw the Shakers level, the midfielder giving them the lead three minutes later with a low deflected shot past Elliot Parish.
The Shakers’ dominance continued when Reece Brown’s 56th minute cross was headed across goal by Tom Pope for Jones to smash home, while the winger turned provider to lay off Tutte for his hat-trick with 62nd-minute cannon.
Bury boss David Flitcroft said:“We said before the game that it was important that we tried to get that one goal ahead and when they did, we didn’t panic.
“It was important and the biggest thing for me is the fans didn’t panic and that was what I believe got us over the line.
“At 2-0 down against the bottom of the league, the place could have gone into a real sombre atmosphere, but it didn’t.
“Without a doubt we scored at a good time but the fans stayed with us at 2-0 and I think that was the key to the victory.”