Saints went down to a hard fought 2-1 defeat at promotion chasing Colchester United.

The game consisted of varying weather conditions which saw the match finish in freezing fog with visibility extremely poor inside the last ten minutes of play.

It was during that time however, that Saints marched towards a comeback in the game having gone 2-0 down. Rickie Lambert converted a penalty as play entered five minutes of stoppage time which unfortunately came too little too late for the visitors, who threw everything at Aidy Boothroyd's U's side in the closing stages.

The damage had already been done with a goal in either half from the hosts as Anthony Wordsworth put Colchester in front before Steven Gillespie's carbon copy effort in the second half almost took the game out of sight long before the weather intervened.

Colchester: Williams, Okuonghae, Reid, White, Tierney, Ifil, Wordsworth, O'Toole. Izzet (Fox 77), Gillespie (Thomas 79), Lisbie (Heath 90). Subs (not used): Cousins, Hackney, Fox, Batth, Platt.

Saints: Bialkowski, Thomas, Trotman (Gobern 78), Jaidi, Harding, James, Schneiderlin (Connolly 46), Hammond, Antonio (Papa Waigo 61), Lallana, Lambert. Subs (not used): Davis, Perry, Wotton, Holmes.

Referee: Mr. D. Deadman (Cambridgeshire)

Attendance: 8,514

Alan Pardew restored Radhi Jaidi and Wayne Thomas to the side in defence with Lloyd James moving into a midfield role as Saints lined up with Adam Lallana who had recovered from a dead leg, supporting Michail Antonio and Rickie Lambert in attack.

The hosts got things underway on a chilly day in Essex with Saints defending the end in front of travelling support. The pitch at the relatively new Weston Homes Community Stadium had beaten the weather concerns from the last week or so, although evidence of the wintry conditions were still on show as piles of snow on the far side of the ground.

A competitive start to the game saw U's defender Marc Tierney line up an early shot which flew wide before Saints found their feet in the match.

In the sixth minute Alan Pardew's side went close to breaking the deadlock. A scuffed clearance from Colchester 'keeper Ben Williams fell to Lallana, who held the ball well before finding Lloyd James on the edge of the area. The Welshman went for goal and Lambert stuck out his head to try and divert the ball goalwards, but his instinctive effort just went wide of the far post.

The match continued in an open fashion with a series of fouls breaking up the pattern of play until Aidy Boothroyd's side took the lead on 23 minutes.

Kevin Lisbie ran at the Saints backline and threaded an inch perfect ball through to midfielder Anthony Wordsworth, who slid the ball past Bialkowski from six yards out.

The hosts went close again shortly afterwards as loanee John-Joe O'Toole headed corner narrowly over the top of the bar, before Lambert almost supplied Hammond with a header at goal which was just taken away from him by Paul Reid as the ball went out for a corner.

Saints went back on the offensive just past the half hour mark but were restricted mainly to crosses from wide areas which Hammond and Lambert couldn't quite make the most of as clear chances remained elusive.

Antonio went into Mr. Deadman's notebook for a foul just inside Colchester's half before Trotman followed suit for dissent prior to the end of the opening 45 minutes of action.

Half Time: Colchester 1-0 Saints

Play resumed with a significant drop in temperature the air as Pardew replaced Morgan Schneiderlin with David Connolly for the new half.

John-Joe O'Toole and Wayne Thomas were the latest players to receive bookings from the match official as the pair clashed on the right hand side five minutes after the re-start.

The match started to warm up again after a slight lull in play with Radhi Jaidi going close as he managed to force a header goalwards from a corner which was saved on the line by Williams.

On 61 minutes Papa Waigo was introduced for Antonio as mist starting to descend from the Essex skies.

Connolly was the next to go close for the visitors as he tried to loop a back header over the advancing 'keeper inside the area from a ball over the top on the right.

Lisbie and Gillespie continued to look dangerous on the break for the U's however, with the latter testing Bialkowski low to his left as match entered the last 25 minutes or so.

On 72, Lallana was brought down after around 30 yards from goal after a terrific run towards goal from midfield. Lambert stepped up to test Williams from range and saw his well struck effort pushed away to the feet of Connolly who was unlucky to be denied from close range on the rebound.

Two minutes later the U's went back on the attack and scored their second of the game as Steven Gillespie pounced on a throughball to convert one on one past Bialkowski for 2-0.

Lambert was miraculously denied by Williams as he volleyed Wayne Thomas' cross towards goal as Saints continued to be frustrated inside their opponents' area. Lallana was the next to go close but by now it was a case of just being able to see the ball as the fog dramatically worsened for the last ten minutes.

Oscar Gobern replaced Trotman as Saints pushed until the end and were rewarded with a late penalty as Papa Waigo helped the ball back into the box and Hammond was brought down by the goalkeeper.

Lambert made no mistake from the spot as five minutes of stoppage time were added on, setting up a tense finale as Lallana shot through a crowd of bodies which could have gone anywhere given the poor visibility.

The match came to a close soon after with the most of the pitch blanketed by the fog.

Full Time: Colchester 2-1 Saints