Colchester United boss Wayne Brown admitted Carlisle United had a "brave" playing style - but said his side were unlucky not to win.

The teams had to settle for a point apiece at the JobServe Community Stadium.

Home manager Brown felt Paul Simpson's team were bold in their attacking, especially in wide areas.

But he felt a more "tenacious" second-half showing from his Essex outfit could easily have won it.

“On another day, you can look at the territory and the chances we had and say we were unlucky not to come away with the three points," Brown told The Gazette.

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“When you concede goals, they’re always massive but when you concede goals a minute or two before half-time, it tends to be a bit of a killer blow.

“Our job is to lift the group and try and assess situations and make changes in formations, which we did in the second half.

“I felt that not only did the system and the change work in the second half but also the personnel that came on the pitch had a massive impact.

“We were more on the front foot, more tenacious, there was no acceptance and we played the game at a better tempo and we got success."

Brown said Carlisle got the upper hand with their approach early on.

"We overloaded the midfield like we did against Northampton and if you are going to give up any areas, it's going to be in the wide areas," he said.

"But they [Carlisle] were brave with it and they pushed their wing-backs right the way on, they [also] had the two midfielders running and it was always going to be a game about first and second balls.

"I felt first half especially we fell short a little bit on that.

"We tweaked things in the second half and we were braver.

"We pushed their wing-backs back and our wide men were higher and wider, to try and occupy their wing-backs."