Colchester United head coach John McGreal expects his side to go into their game at Grimsby Town tonight in confident mood following back-to-back wins.

The U’s will be looking to consolidate their place in the League Two play-off positions and also close in on the automatic promotion places with a win at Blundell Park.

Colchester have lost only three of their last 16 games in League Two and head to Grimsby in decent form.

But they still have around a dozen players out injured and will have to do without their leading scorer Kurtis Guthrie, who was stretchered off with an ankle injury in the closing stages of the U’s win over Hartlepool United.

The trip to play Grimsby tonight is the first of two successive away games for the U’s, who also make the short journey to play Cambridge United on Saturday.

McGreal told the Daily Gazette: “It’s going to be a really tough game at Grimsby but we have to recover and get going again.

“We go Tuesday and then Saturday and then there’s a little bit of a break.

“We have two tough away games coming up but we go into them having won three of the four home games we’ve had this month.

“We’ve improved the home form which we needed to do as over years gone by, we haven’t been overly great here.

“It’s been a good response since Accrington, which was an inept performance and it’s nice to get these home wins, especially for the supporters.

“That’s fantastic so let’s go to Grimsby and try and get a win.”

Meanwhile, McGreal has praised the contribution of midfielder Sean Murray following his impressive display against Hartlepool.

Murray had a hand in Colchester’s opening goal and the former Watford youngster produced an eye-catching second-half performance, in the 2-1 win.

“Sean covered every blade of grass but with quality with his passing and movement so it was a really good performance by him,” added McGreal.

“He can play in that midfield area and across the three and when we tweak it, he can get himself into a forward position as well.

“Sean has a good head on his shoulders as well and he’s a Championship player in a way, looking at what he’s done."

Sammie Szmodics played for 45 minutes on his comeback from injury last night as Colchester's under-23s were beaten 2-1 at Derby County in the Premier League Cup.

Szmodics, who has managed 13 minutes of first-team action in nearly four months because of an ankle injury, made his return in the Group C match at St George's Park.

Calum Macdonald put Derby ahead and Joe Bateman doubled their advantage, before half-time.

Eoin McKeown pulled a goal back for the U's before the end, but they fell to defeat.

Despite their defeat, they still have a good chance of progressing through to the knockout stages of the Premier League Cup.

Wayne Brown's side host Hull City at the Community Stadium on Thursday night, knowing that anything other than a defeat will see them through.