John McGreal insists he is focused solely on getting Colchester United back to winning ways tomorrow – and not on renewing their fierce rivalry with Wycombe Wanderers.

The U’s head to Adams Park to lock swords with their old foes for the first time in the league since 2012, with around 700 of their supporters expected to make the trip to Buckinghamshire.

McGreal said his number two Steve Ball has filled him in on the history between the two clubs, which dates back to the early nineties when they were battling it out in the Conference for promotion.

But while he acknowledges that some supporters will see their trip to Wycombe as a derby match, the U’s head coach has stressed all he is thinking about is getting three points.

McGreal said: “The players knows of the rivalry and so does Stevie Ball.

“He was here when it was all going on with Roy McDonough and Martin O’Neill in the Conference.

“I’m getting a little bit from Steve on what’s gone in the past but for me personally, it’s three points to be won.

“I’m sure the fans will want us to go there and win the game, rather than talk about what’s gone in the past.

“But both sets of fans will be giving stick to each other, so I’m sure there’ll be a lot of banter flying around.

“But we’ll go to try and win the game of football.

“No-one wants to lose two games on the run and we’ll be looking to put it (the Portsmouth defeat) right on Saturday.

“We’ve regrouped through the week and had good training sessions, so we’re looking forward to the game.

“Good teams don’t tend to lose two games in a row, that’s the old adage.

“Hopefully we’ll go there and put in a good performance.”

“They’ve got the big lad up front in Akinfenwa so he’ll be a handful and Hayes is coming back and played his part last week.

“Obviously Akinfenwa is a threat and I’m sure they’ll try and play to their strengths whether that’s through him or a different area but we’ll try and play to our own strengths, too.

“Everyone knows of him but they’re not just a one-man team – they have good personnel throughout their team and we’ll be on our guard for all of them.

“We’ve had them watched a few times and we’ve done our homework on them.”