Barker can't hide disappointment

Crawley boss Richie Barker was critical of his players' decision-making after his side were held to a 1-1 draw at Colchester.

Freddie Sears slid the U's in front after just six minutes, stroking home a low cross from the right by Brian Wilson. But Crawley grabbed a deserved leveller just after the half-hour mark when Emile Sinclair powerfully headed home Nicky Adams' cross. Barker said: "With 10 or 15 minutes to go, both teams would have taken the point - but if anyone was going to nick it we should have. "It was decision-making that let us down the majority of the time. "We just made the wrong decision. "The higher you go, the better players make better decisions, but some of those players aren't as good as we've got here. "We looked a nice team to watch, but also a nice team to play against - loads of positives, but a bit of a negative in terms of our decision-making." On goal hero Sinclair, Barker added: "I'm pleased he got his goal. "He blew a gasket five minutes after half-time and we knew he wasn't going to last. "It's going to take him a while to get to the full 90 minutes, because he played very little football in pre-season. "The goal was the first time we had a quick passing move and finished with something." Both sides had other chances during an enjoyable contest. Jeffrey Monakana had an effort deflected wide and then powered a volley into the side-netting. Ibehre then struck the bar after being teed up by Sears. Crawley also went close, especially in the seconds after their equaliser when Andy Drury hit the post and Billy Clarke's follow-up was well-saved by Sam Walker. Clarke went close again, stabbing home from close-range - only for his effort to be chalked off for offside.