Swindon boss Ben Garner admitted conceding a stoppage-time equaliser to draw 1-1 at nine-man Colchester was a bitter pill to swallow.

Emyr Huws converted Owura Edwards’ corner at the far post in the 92nd-minute to dramatically equalise for the U’s after Harry McKirdy’s goal had looked set to win it for the visitors.

The hosts had both goalkeeper Shamal George and captain Luke Chambers sent off after McKirdy’s opener, and Garner said: “It was very, very frustrating.

“We don’t defend a set piece at the end 11 v 9 and it cost us points but we should have been out of sight.

“I think the fact that they were down to nine caused a bit of confusion. We changed markers and we ended up with an extra zonal player in there and they’ve snuck in and scored.

“That’s on us and it shouldn’t have happened. We didn’t defend the free-kick well enough, we didn’t defend the first corner well enough and we didn’t defend the second corner well enough when they scored.

“But we should never have been in that situation. We should have had more goals and throughout the game we were completely dominant.

“There were three penalties in the game and we didn’t get any of them. That seals the game straight away but we should have put it out of sight before that.”

After a goalless first half, Swindon went ahead in the 68th minute through McKirdy, who scored from close range following Ellis Iandolo’s superb cross.

Colchester were reduced to 10 men with 18 minutes left when George was dismissed for violent conduct following an off-the-ball incident with Josh Davison.

Chambers was then sent off in the 88th minute for denying a goalscoring opportunity after fouling substitute Jayden Mitchell-Lawson on the edge of the area, but Huws incredibly salvaged a point for Colchester in time added on.

Colchester interim assistant manager Joe Dunne said: “It was an amazing end to a really difficult game.

“We’re just pleased that the ending was a bit better than the start of the second half and it was great to send everyone home knowing that we kept going until the very end, which is what we did.

“The bravery from the gaffer (Wayne Brown) was good because sometimes you could say we’ll see out the game with nine men 1-0 and don’t get beat by a few. But we changed the shape quite bravely to 3-3-3 and forced the issue from a free-kick initially.

“We all know that a set-piece can cause problems and we’re just delighted that from the second corner it went in.

“We decided to say ‘let’s go for it’ and we were brave with it. It was a very difficult game and we had to stay in it for as long as we could.”