Colchester manager Hayden Mullins felt a failure to take “clear-cut” chances cost his team the opportunity to secure three points at Bradford

In a 0-0 draw at Valley Parade, Alan Judge and Freddie Sears were both thwarted in one-on-one situations by recalled home goalkeeper Sam Hornby, while Cole Skuse also missed the target with a free shot on goal late on.

The U’s have now failed to net for five consecutive league games on the road, amounting to a barren run of seven hours and 40 minutes.

A frustrated Mullins said: “With Freddie (Sears) going through in the fashion he did, Alan Judge doing the same with his quality and Cole Skuse shooting just past the post, I felt we should have scored from one of those opportunities.”

All three chances came in the second half after Mullins had made a tactical substitution in the 41st minute, replacing right-winger Sylvester Jasper with central-midfielder Brendan Wiredu and, on that decision, the former West Ham midfielder explained: “We made a change and it settled us down a bit, because we had to weather the storm during those early stages and were not winning enough second balls.

“I wanted to get the substitution done as soon as we could rather than wait for half-time. I felt that middle area of the pitch was one that we needed to try and tie up.

“Brendan gave us a lot more battling qualities and energy and we then imposed our game on them a lot better in the second half and we created some really good, clear-cut chances, so I’m a bit disappointed not to get the win.”

Bradford boss Derek Adams, meanwhile, argued his team would have been the more worthy winners, but also admitted his players need to find a more ruthless streak in front of goal.

He said: “We dominated for large spells of the game and created some really good openings in the first 45 minutes, which is why Colchester had to make a change. But you have got to score goals during spells like that because, as the game goes on, the opposition will get some chances too.

“They had a couple that we gave them through our poor play but, other than that, we had the best opportunities in the game. Their goalkeeper made some good saves and we probably need something to go in off someone to give us that relief of scoring a goal, but we’re also not being clinical enough.”

On giving Hornby his first league start of the season in place of Richard O’Donnell, Adams added: “I asked myself that, if I was the number two, would I feel that I was due an opportunity and I felt the answer to the question was yes.”