Colchester United boss Danny Cowley rued the man-of-the-match display from Carlisle United’s Harry Lewis which denied his side.

The U’s head coach said that his side were dominant after a tactical tweak at half-time.

But they met a goalkeeper in impressive form as Carlisle held on for a 0-0 draw.

Cowley said: “Whenever we keep a clean sheet we expect to win with the quality of players we have, particularly in attacking areas.

“It just wasn’t to be. Credit to their goalkeeper, he makes a number of really good saves, and he’s rightfully their man of the match for sure.

“We leave with a real frustration because we definitely, in the second half, did enough to win.”

Carlisle had much the better of the first half before Colchester had the lion’s share of things after the break.

Cowley explained how he looked to get his side back on top of the Blues.

“We had to tweak it at half-time tactically,” he said in a club interview.

“We anticipated a Mike Williamson team coming here in a 3-4-2-1 and playing more between the lines and building on the first line.

“But they played with two big ones [up front], [Luke] Armstrong and Charlie Wyke, and went over our press.

Charlie Wyke was influential for United in the first half before Colchester respondedCharlie Wyke was influential for United in the first half before Colchester responded (Image: Richard Parkes)

“It meant at half-time we needed to give ourselves a bit more protection in front of their forwards.

“That encouraged them to build more on their first line and we got after them really aggressively. In the second half we dominated, played all the game in their half but just couldn’t find that moment of quality.

“Even in the first half, Samson [Tovide] did brilliantly to get in on the left side, and if he has his time again probably he goes past the goalkeeper and the goal’s open for him.

Mike Williamson's assessment of Carlisle United's draw at Colchester

“In the second half it was chance after chance and the keeper has made some good saves from Ellis [Iandolo] and Arthur [Read] and we couldn’t find that all-important goal.”

Colchester dropped a place to 16th in League Two and Cowley added: “It’s three clean sheets in eight, only one loss in eight. We’re becoming a more competitive team but we want to become a more winning team and that’s what we’re working towards.

“We have to keep developing and growing and if we do that we’ll turn these draws into wins.”