Colchester United boss John McGreal aware of Crewe threat

The U’s will be looking to get more points on the board at the JobServe Community Stadium, having claimed five points from a possible nine so far.

They face an Alex side currently residing just below them in the table, following one win, one draw and one defeat to date.

U’s head coach McGreal said: “It’s a real boost to go into tonight’s game unbeaten.

“Crewe are no pushovers in this division and we know that.

“I know Dave (Artell) well and he’ll have them playing a particular way.

“They’ve got a good philosophy, similar to ourselves, bringing the kids through and playing an attractive brand of football.

“We’ll do our analysis on them and make sure we don’t cut any corners, because as we saw on Friday night – when Yeovil went to Notts County and put four past them – you have to be right on the money in this division to get anything out of a game.

“We’ve played some big teams in Notts County and Mansfield.

“Both are powerful sides in our division but we feel we’ve got a good team of our own and we’ve made a strong start.

“It was really pleasing to come away with a point at the weekend and keep a big, noisy crowd quiet.

“To achieve that, you have to be doing things right and we certainly were.”

McGreal is hoping for more vocal backing from Colchester’s fans tonight, after nearly 200 of their supporters got behind them in their 1-1 draw at Mansfield Town where Sammie Szmodics bagged a last-gasp equaliser.

McGreal added: “Our away fans are brilliant and it was fantastic for them.

“The South Stand really get our crowd going at home and we’ll be looking for them to do the same tonight.

“Hopefully we can start well and if that doesn’t happen we’ll be asking the supporters to stay with us and keep getting behind the boys, as our away fans did on Saturday.

“They didn’t stop singing.

“After a tough trip last Tuesday and a tough one at the weekend, it’s nice that we’ve now got two home games to look forward to.”