COLCHESTER United midfielder Doug Loft says his team have to cure their travel sickness if they want to push for promotion this season.

The U’s were let down by their away record last term, losing ten times away from the Weston Homes Community Stadium.

That was more than any other side in the top 13 and a statistic that ultimately cost them a play-off place, in League Two.

The trend has continued this season, with an opening-day defeat at Accrington Stanley being followed by a bitterly disappointing 3-0 defeat at Luton Town on Saturday.

Loft says things have to change fast if the club are to challenge for a top-seven spot.

He said: “Away from home is going to be key this year.

“We’ll always do well at home, but we’ve got to learn to grind out results on the road even if we don’t play the prettiest football.

“Things have to change and we were bitterly disappointed with the result and performance on Saturday.

“We started well enough and were sticking to our gameplan, but after that we weren’t really at it and then conceded right on half-time.

“Everyone has got to do better. We need to improve in all areas and only have ourselves to blame.

“We’re a good passing side and started well but let them back in the game.

“People need to stand up and be counted and be braver on the ball. If we can do that, we’ll be fine.”

Luton broke the deadlock three minutes into first-half stoppage time, via Olly Lee, and added two more after the break, through James Collins and Dan Potts.

Loft felt the timing of the opener was all-important.

He said: “We’ve got to learn from things like that because had it been goalless at the break, it would have been a good score.

“The manager had a real go at us at half time, but had we not conceded he would have been happy.

“We should have done better from the set-piece. We ended up conceding from another set-piece and that was disappointing, because we’d worked all week on them.

“Luton are a good side but on our day, I’d still fancy us over them.”

On a personal note, Loft was happy to be back in the starting line-up, having had an injury-hit time since joining Colchester last July.

Achilles and hamstring injuries limited him to just nine first-team appearances last season.

Now the 30-year-old is determined to make up for lost time and said: “I’m delighted to be back. It’s so nice to be playing again, although obviously I would have liked a better game to return in.

“I feel fit and I’m looking forward to the rest of the season.

“We haven’t had the best of starts, but we’ve got some big games coming up and we’ve got to kick on and get some points on the board.”