Leeds 1 Colchester 2

 Gary McAllister was in no mood to throw in the towel after Leeds United’s fourth successive defeat.

And the under-fire manager denied the club was in crisis.

He said: “I will keep going. You have to grind it out and get to the other end.

“There is no point sitting in a corner and sulking. I will stay strong to my values on how the game should be played. The type of players I am working with dictate the style of play we play and I am not asking them to do anything they cannot do.

“We have to transfer what we are doing in training during the week into matches. I wouldn’t say it is a crisis. If we were well down the league or unable to pass the ball four feet to each other that would be a crisis but we are not at that level.”

If he is still in charge when the transfer window reopens on January 1, McAllister must get his recruiting right or the axe will surely fall.

All managers know they stand or fall on results and those four defeats on the bounce have left the Scot under inevitable pressure.

With matches against MK Dons, Leicester City and Stockport before the end of the year, vital points are at stake and a home defeat against Colchester was the last thing McAllister needed in preparation for that trio of tests.

True, Colchester were a Championship side last season but they have struggled since relegation and looked distinctly ordinary in the rain and gloom of Elland Road on Saturday.

McAllister has given his players every opportunity to show their mettle, yet they have repeatedly let him down, with a host of goals conceded from set-pieces proving their Achilles heel.

Referee Nigel Miller was the target for abuse from Leeds supporters when he insisted on defender Rui Marques leaving the field because there was blood on his shirt. In the Angolan’s brief absence, Miller allowed Mark Yeates to take a corner and Dean Hammond headed an equaliser.

Regardless of the rights or wrongs of the shirt incident, there was no excuse for those Leeds players who impersonated statues as Hammond got his head to the ball. Nor was there any sympathy for David Prutton, who was sent off for a second bookable offence in the incident that enabled Yeates to curl home a free-kick that Colchester boss Paul Lambert said was worthy of Ronaldinho.

Prutton had been cautioned for dissent over Hammond’s goal and his foul on David Perkins simply asked for trouble.

McAllister described the tackle as “rash”, claiming a player of Prutton’s experience should have known better. Now Prutton is suspended for the trip to MK Dons on Saturday.

It should have been plain sailing for Leeds once Robert Snodgrass had latched on to a long ball from keeper David Lucas and given central defenders Chris Coyne and Paul Reid the slip before picking his spot in the 35th minute.

Yet Leeds fans have learned nothing can be taken for granted from this team and their worst fears were confirmed by those two goals from the opposition.

Colchester keeper Jimmy Walker did well to push Alan Sheehan’s vicious free-kick over the bar and visiting captain Hammond headed off the line from Snodgrass with six minutes left.

Yet once again Leeds had too many players well below their best and with top-scorer Jermaine Beckford still absent with a hamstring injury, the side lacked pace up front.

Even Fabian Delph struggled to live up to his reputation in a team that looked low on self-esteem and urgently needs the boost of a win.