John McGreal admitted losing on penalties was not a nice way to exit the Carabao Cup after Colchester United lost out to Cheltenham Town in dramatic fashion.

The U's lost 6-5 on spot-kicks after they had drawn 2-2 with the Robins after 90 minutes, in the first-round tie at Whaddon Road.

Colchester had found themselves behind after less than a minute to Ryan Broom's strike and when Conor Thomas doubled Cheltenham's lead from the spot with 20 minutes remaining, they were left with a mountain to climb.

But two goals in less than two minutes from substitute Sammie Szmodics and debutant Luke Norris got the U's back into the tie and penalties, only for them to lose out in the shoot-out.

U's head coach McGreal said: "We showed a lot of character to come back into the game.

"I thought Cheltenham were by far the better team in the first half and caused us problems in midfield with their inverted wingers.

"We couldn't get to grips with it and we couldn't get that balance.

"We had to address that at half-time and I thought that we did that.

"We started OK in the second half but then it went into a bit of a lull and I thought that we needed to freshen things up.

"No sooner than that, we started to gain territory in and around their box but then we gave a penalty away.

"We showed a lot of character to come back and score a couple of goals and we thought the onus would then be on us in the penalty shoot-out.

"But it didn't work out that way and it's not a nice way to go out.

"It's a bit of a lottery and I'd like to see a bit more personality in those penalties, to put the opposition off in some way.

"We were too nice in a way and it's something I've alluded to in the dressing room."