Colchester United suffered their 11th home reverse of the season as Lloyd Owusu's goal gave new life to Brighton & Hove Albion's relagation battle.

Another home game, another 1-0 defeat, and another dismal performance. Lambert's Colchester United side served up yet more woes for their long suffering supporters who, quite rightly, booed their team off the park at the final whistle. The only goal of the game came twelve minutes from Lloyd Owusu after the break against a Brighton side that started the day third from bottom of the division.

Lambert made changes to the side that had lost at Leyton Orient on Saturday afternoon. A family illness kept Clive Platt out of the line-up while Marc Tierney, Neal Trotman and Alan Maybury were on the bench. That gave opportunities to Chris Coyne, the fit again Matt Lockwood and Anthony Wordsworth whilst Mark Yeates was restored to the starting line-up. Ashley Vincent made his full home debut up front.

A change to the starting line-up also saw another change to the formation. Lambert obviously thinks that League One footballers are up to change tactical formations at a whim - but sadly, that's exactly why they are not playing at a higher level. This time it was a 4-5-1 formation that looked wrong to start with. Vincent played on his own upfront with Hackney and Yeates pushed up on the wings. That left a midfield trio of Izzet, Hammond and Wordsworth just in front of the back four.

The question was where the goals are going to come from. Taking out Yeates who scores most of his from set plays, that left Vincent with 6 as the top scorer closely followed by Hammond on five and Wordsworth on three. Vincent, it has to be said, has played most of his career on the right wing so effectively, United were starting the game without a recognised striker in the team. My remark to a fellow fan before the game of 'I cannot see where our goals are going to come from' was sadly accurate.

For Brighton, struggling against relation, there were three former U's men in the ranks. Adam Virgo skippered the side whilst Gary Borrowdale, who had a loan period with the U's earlier in the season, was at left back. Kevin McLeod completed the trio on the bench.

The early moments of the match saw the U's having the better of possession with Chris Coyne using the wings to great effect with three terrific passes to Hackney and Lockwood. Yeates had a chance inside the box and tried to turn Elphick after Lockwood had picked him out. As he pushed the ball past the Albion man though, Kuipers was out quickly to get to the ball first and deny the Irishman a 12th of the campaign.

Former Brighton skipper Dean Hammond blasted a shot high wide and mighty whilst at the other end, Coyne lost out in an aerial challenge to Elphick (who I thought went in dangerously with his elbow) but Gary Hart's flick at the ball lacked the power to get past Gerken in goal.

Izzet then went in to the WHCS record books as the first person to clear the South Stand with his volley before Wordsworth almost got on to a Yeates cross but good defending from Albion made sure he made little contact with the ball.

By this time I had seen enough. United could have played for hours and not scored and, at home especially, that's not good enough. The players themselves were clearly unhappy at the system imposed on them by the dour Scotsman. Vincent at times showed his pace, but he also showed that he is not a target man. He won a very small percentage of the headers and, when one of the central defenders we're talking about is Adam Virgo, is worrying. That's not to say it was Vincent's fault - it’s just that he needs a target man alongside him to take the knocks as time and time again, the long ball forward simply came straight back at United. Ok, I understand that Platt was not available, but at least Wasiu (or even Vernon if he had been called back from his loan spell) might have helped him out.

The other problem was in midfield were poor Anthony Wordsworth was like a little boy lost. He simply did not understand the system and most of the first half passed him by. Izzet, Hammond, Hackney and Yeates were doing their best, but the formation and system simply didn't fit the players picked.

Vincent did show his pace towards the end of the half as he broke away down the inside left channel but his left footed strike was comfortably saved by Michel Kuipers who had an otherwise quiet afternoon - indeed, at one point I think he was reading the programme so bored was he.

Elphick headed a corner over the bar as the referee blew for the halftime whistle which was met with a round of boos from the U's fans. That first half - defence aside - simply hadn't been good enough.

Little did we realise that we had reached the pinnacle of the afternoon's entertainment from a Colchester perspective. I have just read my notes for the second half which has the highlights on and for the U's it is a Wasiu volley from a Vincent cross.

That's it. An entire 45 minutes at home, and United mustered one half chance. Does Mr Cowling really think this is good enough? Does he really expect people to shell out more than £400 to be bored out of their mind? Lambert was, I believe, lucky today. People are still giving him a chance to impress next season but honestly, have the performances at home improved since the arrival of the former Celtic midfielder? At least under Williams we put together a few decent passing moves - but United have now gone four and a half hours without a goal at home.

Brighton? Well, they fully deserved their lead, given to them when Lloyd Owusu headed home Gary Borrowdale's free kick just before the hour mark. After a first half when they seemed content to get to the break level, they then showed commitment, desire, passion, and energy all of which was missing from the home side. Indeed, Brighton were so much better than the U's that Adam Virgo was able to be ill on the pitch and we still never tested him unduly.

They had already seen one effort cleared off the line by Pat Baldwin. Cox's shot was parried by Gerken (one of the few who escapes any real criticism this evening) and Baldwin got back to get to the ball before Hart could give Brighton the lead. Cox then tested Gerken again with a shot which the U's keeper did well to save.

In fairness to the U's, at the goal there may have been some re-organisation of the backline after Pat Baldwin was forced off to be replaced by Neal Trotman. Previous to that Chris Coyne had been marking Owusu and had kept him pretty quiet but I did notice that at the next corner, Trotman was now marking the former Brentford man.

So how would the U's get themselves back in to the game? Well, quite frankly they never looked like they would find an equaliser.

I have, of course, missed another of Lambert's gems. United did switch to a 4-4-2 formation at the break and not without time, but who did he choose to partner Vincent? Not the one striker on the bench who might have been able to hold the ball up and bring others into play, but none other than midfielder Anthony Wordsworth. I don't watch that much youth and reserve team football but I have seen a bit and never, even in those game, have I ever seen Wordsworth played in attack. True, he's quite tall but is that the only requirements from Lambert for a striker.....must be lanky? Sadly, some U's fans decided to get on to the highly rated young midfielders back which was incredibly unfair on him. His manager had let him down by playing him in two positions which he really didn't understand at all.

Lambert made a change in a desperate attempt to get some life back in to his team. Wasiu replaced Wordsworth 25 minutes later than he should have done however, with Alan Maybury and Marc Tierney on the bench, he had no other attacking options to fall back on.

Brighton, who had lost at home to Swindon on Saturday, also made changes with El-Abd, Andrew and Davies replacing Loft, Hart and Owusu. It was Davies who almost scored the second after seeing off Coyne's challenge but seeing Gerken save with his feet on the edge of his box.

Thankfully, after four minutes injury time, the referee did us all a favour in blowing up and allowing the few remaining U's fans who hadn't already walked out, the chance to do so. It was United's 11th home defeat of the season and with 21 goals, only Doncaster Rovers with 14 have scored less in the Football League this season.

Save of the Match: Gerken's late save from Davies kept the U's in with a small chance of grabbing a point
Shot of the Match: At least Kem Izzet's high volley over the South stand raised a smile.
Moment of the Match: When Lambert handed out in the team sheet - the U's were always up against it then.
Man of the Match: Though United's attacking options were few and far between, the defence did play reasonably well. I thought Chris Coyne had one of his better games for the club and kept Owusu quiet for most of it whilst John White again showed his worth to the club. However, I think it’s fair to say that the MOTM (and quite how Simon Hackney won the award from the sponsors is up to debate) for many was MATT LOCKWOOD. Certainly, there was little that got past him and, with Tierney at the club as well, the U's do at least have some decent cover at left back.

Colchester: Gerken, White, Coyne, Baldwin (Trotman 55), Lockwood, Izzet, Hammond, Wordsworth (Wasiu 68), Hackney, Yeates, Vincent.
Subs Not Used: Cousins, Maybury, Tierney.

Booked: Coyne.

Brighton: Kuipers, Whing, Virgo, Elphick, Borrowdale, Loft (El-Abd 85), Fraser, Dicker, Cox, Hart (Andrew 70), Owusu (Davies 72).
Subs Not Used: McLeod, Hawkins.

Booked: Loft.

Goals: Owusu 57.

Att: 4,873

Ref: Russell Booth (Nottinghamshire).

Photo: Action Images

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