Anyone doubting the commitment of Colchester United’s players need have looked no further than the visitors’ changing room door at Priestfield Stadium on Saturday night.

The immense hurt and disappointment etched on the face of each and every member of the U’s squad as they left Gillingham was clear for all to see, much like their passion throughout the game.

You only had to witness Bongani Khumalo’s distraught reaction in the aftermath of the Gills’ first equaliser, or the prostrate U’s bodies on the floor after the hosts’ heartbreaking late leveller, to see that.

The dedication and loyalty of today’s modern professional footballer is often called into question by supporters, in the wider game.

But try telling the U’s players that they do not care about the club’s plight.

It is a football cliché but the Gillingham game was an emotional rollercoaster for Colchester.

Twice they were in the lead in the second half; twice they were pegged back.

Twice they celebrated animatedly what they thought might be a winner; twice they suffered the dejection of conceding an equaliser.

By the final whistle, the U’s were naturally left devastated that they had gained only one point and not three.

And the fact that their relegation rivals Coventry City, Leyton Orient, Crewe Alexandra and Notts County all lost only served to rub salt into the wound, rather than ease it.

The U’s at least reduced the gap between themselves and safety to four points, with eight games remaining.

But they were so close to drawing to within a win away from survival, something that would have sent them into their break without a game in buoyant mood.

As it is, the stark feeling of disappointment they felt at the end of the Gillingham game must not be allowed to linger.

The way the U’s recuperate over the next fortnight or so promises to determine the outcome of their final few weeks of the campaign – and whether they succeed or fail in their battle to beat the drop.

But while the final outcome for Colchester was disappointing given the context of the game, their dedicated performance – and commitment to the cause – surely cannot be questioned.