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League Two strugglers Colchester United have appointed Hayden Mullins as first-team head coach until the end of the season.

Mullins, 42, steps up from his role as assistant boss to replace Wayne Brown, who had been in interim charge since Steve Ball was sacked in February.

Under Brown, the U's won only once in nine games and are four points clear of the bottom two with eight matches left.

Chairman Robbie Cowling called the decision to replace Brown "very tough".

"Wayne Brown has given his all to lift the club away from danger but his hard work, positivity and enthusiasm have not been rewarded with the results he deserved and the club needed," Cowling

"I can't allow those poor results to eat away at the team's confidence to beat the drop, which despite our position remains high."

Cowling added he will appoint someone with "good managerial experience" to assist and "mentor" Mullins but emphasised the former Crystal Palace and West Ham midfielder would have the final say on team selection and tactics.

"I would like to go on record once again to say that I take full responsibility for this season's predicament," Cowling said.

"I made a number of financial decisions that I believed were needed during the pandemic and those decisions have had a negative impact on results.

"Had there not been a pandemic, I'm sure we would have been battling at the other end of the table."

Mullins' first game in charge is against promotion-chasing Bolton on Friday, 2 April.