COLCHESTER United manager Joe Dunne believes his team can still hit the points target he has set for them for December.

The U’s boss said at the end of November that this could be a big month for his team as they look to move away from their position just above the League One drop zone, but their first game saw a poor performance that ended in a 4-0 defeat by Notts County on Saturday.

However, he is backing his players to respond positively and feels they can get their December plans back on track when they head to Oldham Athletic today.

Dunne said: “It hasn’t been the start (to December) we wanted, but there are more games to play and we still have a target.

“We can still get that target.

“The wall doesn’t cave in after one game.

“We’ve lost games last year heavily and people made the same assumptions.

“But I’ve got a good group who can respond and I know coming up in the next few games and over New Year that we will be stronger for it.

“It’s not weighing on me.

“I feel positive and good and I’m constantly learning as a young manager.

“I learned a lot last weekend and I’m confident in the group I’ve got.

“I want us to be first to everything at Oldham.

“We lost a game last weekend and if we win this one does it make up for last weekend?

“Are we back on a run?

“What I’ve learned is that you have to stay on an even keel and we’ll go there for a positive result.

“We then have the two home games, but I’m looking for a positive reaction from the team, a willingness to work hard and chase things down.

“And if it doesn’t go well, we regroup and go again.

“We’ve done that this season, but we didn’t do it on Saturday.

“There may be times when it doesn’t happen again but it happens to the best teams.

“We aren’t exceptional in the way we performed on Saturday, but that’s gone and we have to move on.

“Otherwise we never move on.

“It’s not even Christmas yet.

“There’s still another half of the season to go so stay focused and move on.”

Dunne said Sanchez Watt would travel with the squad to Oldham after a lengthy thigh injury, while David Wright and Marcus Bean also return from back and hamstring injuries respectively and Brian Wilson is back from suspension.