Ben Davies says Tottenham’s players let down the club and manager Mauricio Pochettino in Tuesday night's defeat to League Two Colchester and apologised to supporters.

Spurs completed a miserable week by crashing out of the Carabao Cup following a 4-3 defeat on penalties at the JobServe Community Stadium after a frustrating 0-0 draw.

Substitute Christian Eriksen saw his opening spot-kick saved by Colchester goalkeeper Dean Gerken and Lucas Moura crashed his effort on to the bar, leaving Spurs without an away win this season and still chasing a first trophy since winning the competition in 2008.

“It’s horrible - it’s a trophy, a good chance to pick something up and we’ve let it slip at the first hurdle,” left-back Davies told Standard Sport.

“The manager didn’t need to say anything afterwards. In the dressing room, we were all as disappointed as him. We let him down, we let the club down.

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“We weren’t terrible. We just didn’t seem to click, didn’t put anything together. We have to win these games. We have to show we’re a better side than this. It’s a tough feeling right now.

"We just have to apologise to the supporters, too. We let them down. They travel with us everywhere and they’re first-class. We need everyone behind us now to help us push on through this difficult time.”

The third-round exit - Spurs’s first defeat by a lower-League club in this competition since Grimsby in 2005-06 - followed a 2-2 draw at Olympiacos last week, when they threw away a two-goal lead, and Saturday’s loss at Leicester.

Another reverse in Saturday’s home match against Southampton would leave the club in crisis territory.

“It’s a huge game for us,” said Davies. “We need to start getting that winning feeling back because it seems a long way away after losing games like that.”

Pochettino, who was previously unbeaten in 18 domestic cup ties against lower-ranked opponents in England, handed debuts to youngsters Japhet Tanganga and Troy Parrott, but his team had plenty of experience, including Dele Alli, Moura, Eric Dier, Davinson Sanchez, Davies and Victor Wanyama all starting.

The game was played almost entirely in Colchester’s half, barring some late forays from the hosts, but the closest Spurs came to a breakthrough was when Kyle Walker-Peters saw a cross-cum-shot strike the base of the post.

Asked what had gone wrong, Davies said: “It’s difficult to put your finger on at the moment, there’s a lot of emotions flying around. It hurts a lot.

"No disrespect to Colchester, but we should be coming here, showing them we’re the better side and winning. We really need to look at ourselves and go again.

“This is a big learning curve for us. It’s one where we really have to take a long hard look at ourselves and make sure these kind of results don’t happen again."

Dier was making his first appearance of the season, having missed the start of pre-season following an unspecified procedure.

The England midfielder suffered from appendicitis, tonsillitis and a hip problem last season, and he said: “I don’t think now is the right time to talk about myself.

"It’s not so much injuries but I’ve been unfortunate with illness, unfortunate to miss pre-season. That hindered me. The most important thing is the team, trying to push on together.

"I need to keep working the way I am and taking my opportunities.”