Keith Curle reacts to 'fundamental errors' in Hartlepool United's defeat to Colchester United

It was another important fixture at the Suit Direct Stadium but this time, unlike against Rochdale, Hartlepool came out on the wrong side of the result as their relegation fears intensified.

Fiacre Kelleher was given too much space in the penalty area to open the scoring for Colchester when both he and Samson Tivode latched onto Arthur Read’s free kick before Kelleher was able to power home from close range.

It led to a hugely disappointing opening 45 minutes as Curle’s side made very little threat on the Colchester goal aside from a smart Josh Umerah turn and strike - with Pools, perhaps, fortunate not to go in further behind when Connor Hall called Ben Killip into action with a back post header.

But despite having been forced into two tactical changes in the first half, with Jack Hamilton and Peter Hartley going off injured, Curle’s side did show some signs of improvement in the second half.

Umerah went close again just after the hour before Mikael Ndjoli brought an excellent save out of Kieran O’Hara.

Pools did get their breakthrough, though, as Jamie Sterry was able to smartly turn the ball into the bottom corner, through a defender’s legs, from Jake Hastie’s deflected effort with seven minutes to go.

For there on it felt as though it would be Hartlepool who would go on to snatch a win but, instead, it was Matt Bloomfield’s side as Sterry unfortunately turned into his own net after Killip had saved from Matt Jay and Alex Newby with the ball rebounding off the defender before trickling over the line.

“We deserved exactly what we’ve got out of it,” said Curle.

“It’s a roller coaster of emotions and you’ve got to ride with it. If somebody was watching the game there was only going to be one team who was going to get a winner. They only had two shots in the second half.

“But we didn’t start the game how we wanted to by giving the opposition a foothold. They grew in confidence, it rocked us in the first half but apart from that there was nothing in the game.

“Second half I thought we dominated and got on the front foot and played how we wanted to play, playing with the intensity we’re looking to play at, and scored the equaliser.

“Then fundamental errors [cost us]. Getting brushed aside, a ball into the box, one save, two saves, not enough to keep the ball out of the net.”

Curle added: “Our awareness of spotting danger and denying teams opportunities to score needs to improve

“When you’ve got a gaping hole in the middle of your goal and their men are trying to score and we haven’t got people defending our goal it’s a red flag.

“You give players roles and responsibilities, you do it on a Thursday, you do it on a Friday, and within seven minutes of the game it’s not being picked up on.

“We find our men five or six yards away from the man who they were meant to be marking. That’s not right.”