Joe Dunne admits Colchester United need to polish up on their defending before the new League One season starts.

The U’s boss was disappointed with some of the goals his side conceded in their recent friendlies against Dagenham and Redbridge and Dover Athletic.

Dunne is pleased with the way pre-season has gone so far, ahead of Colchester’s latest friendly at League Two side Luton Town tonight.

But he conceded there is still some work to be done on the training ground, ahead of the U’s curtain-raiser against Oldham Athletic on August 9.

Dunne said: “I’m pleased with where we are with pre-season so far and it’s gone pretty much how I expected.

“We’re getting to the business end of pre-season now, where we have to start thinking about not losing and changing the mentality.

“There have been a lot of positives but there’s still stuff that we need to work on.

“To score four goals against Dagenham was pleasing.

“But the first two goals that we conceded in that game were disappointing.

“It was the same against Dover and these are things that we need to work on.

“We’ve got less than two weeks now before the new season starts and we’ll build up the intensity in training.

“We’re not ready yet but we’re close and one or two more bits and we’ll be there.”

For more on this story and all of the latest Colchester United, including the latest on Darren Ambrose, see Tuesday's Daily Gazette.