David Gregory leads Colchester United into the new millennium with a promise that the best is still to come.

The acting U's captain and his team-mates are determined to put their indifferent first half of the season behind them as they bid to kick off the second part of 1999-2000 campaign with victory over Blackpool at Bloomfield Road.

He said today: "We are still fighting against the tide in many ways, but we know we have got to improve in our remaining 23 games because another 21 points will only take us to 42 and that is not going to be enough to keep us up.

"We've got to be looking at 54 points and the quicker we can achieve them the better it will be for all of us.

"Our recent form has been a lot better than that of the early days and the spirit within the club couldn't be higher.

"Our fitness is improving with every match and with it we are no longer conceding the stream of late goals that proved so costly to us in the first half of the season.

"I think our lack of early season fitness cost us at least six points.

"It's been a battle to turn things around, but with more players returning to fitness the second half of the season is already looking more encouraging.

"That's why three points are a must at Blackpool today."

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.