COLCHESTER United head coach John McGreal admits his players have been "hurt" by their recent home record - and says there would be no better time to put things right than in Friday's showdown against leaders Luton Town.

The U's kept their League Two play-off dream alive with a 1-0 victory at Stevenage on Saturday.

It has teed things up nicely ahead of the Hatters' visit on Good Friday and McGreal hopes his players make up for lost time at the Weston Homes Community Stadium.

Their most recent home matches have ended in 1-0 defeats against lowly Barnet and Yeovil Town.

“We’ve had a couple of poor defeats at home," said McGreal.

“The boys hurt just as much as the fans when we don’t win and they’ve tried to prove that in the two away performances (at Morecambe last Tuesday and then at Stevenage).

“Saturday's win was a great confidence boost for us to go into a home match against the top of the league side.

“We’re still in and around it. The play-offs still look distant but we’ve set our own in-house targets.

“It’ll be a great crowd and I’m sure they’ll bring quite a few fans.

“Hopefully we’ll have ours out and the pitch will be prepared right for a good footballing game, which is what we want.

“I felt the two away games would be ideal after the way things went at home, where we haven’t had the rub of the green or performed well.

“We were resolute and the clean sheet (at Morecambe) definitely gave us an injection of belief going into the Stevenage match.

"Some of the football we played was out of this world.

“It was terrific and we keep saying to the boys to keep the ball under pressure and some of the play through the lines was excellent."

Mika Mandron scored the winning goal, taking his tally for the season to ten.

The Frenchman also netted in the U's last home win, against Coventry City on February 13.

“Mika’s in double figures now," added McGreal.

“He’s sat out a couple of games because we’ve tried one or two different personnel in there and he’s had a little look from the touchline.

“But one thing you know with him is that he'll work his socks off.

“We’ve asked him to get into the box; he’s missed a couple of chances but he’s scored the winner."

Wolves loanee Ben Stevenson came back into the starting line-up on Saturday, replacing Brandon Comley.

McGreal felt it was an "ideal time" to bring him back into the team.

“Ben’s been unfortunate in that he had a slight hamstring injury," said the U's boss.

“He’s on loan and he’s not our player but we have a good relationship with Wolves.

“We changed it but even though there were a couple of 1-0 defeats there with the Mansfield draw, we felt we were always in the game with a competitive edge with Tom and Coms in there.

“Ben understands that and I felt it was an ideal time to get back into the fold."

Tom Eastman was also in the team, having initially been dropped to the bench for last week's draw at Morecambe.

He was then recalled following Frankie Kent’s injury in the warm-up and kept his place at Stevenage.

“It’s been a little bit of a realisation for Tom that ‘I’m not a number one, sitting in centre-half here’," said McGreal.

“He’s come back and we’ve had two clean sheets, knowing that Frankie is now back on the bench, so it’s good competition.

“Ryan (Inniss) was at Stevenage – he wanted to come and get some extra fitness work and it’s a strong, close-knit group.

“Everyone’s pulling in the right direction - we’ll keep working hard and the results will come.”