JOHN McGreal admits he faces another selection headache today ahead of Colchester United’s clash with Leyton Orient.

The U’s head coach made five changes to his starting line-up for their midweek win at Swindon Town and is set for more tough decisions, ahead of the clash at the JobServe Community Stadium.

Leading scorer Luke Norris, along with Tom Lapslie and Luke Gambin, were left on the bench for Colchester’s 3-0 triumph at the County Ground, while Ben Stevenson and Ryan Clampin were not even among the substitutes.

And as the U’s aim to chalk up back-to-back wins in League Two for the second time this season, boss McGreal has conceded he must make some difficult choices.

McGreal said: “I have a few headaches again.

“I have 21 players and I can only have 18 involved, so we’ll have to wait and see.

“I have a number of senior players now, alongside the under-21s.

“There were three players who missed out on Tuesday and players will again miss out on Saturday.

“It’s just the way it is at this moment in time.

“We’re carrying big numbers so we have to pick a team and a squad to try and win games of football.

“That might bring in a little element of rotation as such – we’ll have to wait and see.”

Colchester will head into today’s game in confident mood, following their win at Swindon.

Another victory against Orient could lift the U’s into the play-off positions, if other results go their way.

“You would hope that the boys would come away from that Swindon win with a bit of momentum,” said McGreal.

“Training has been really good and the boys who didn’t play (against Swindon) have done a hard session while the others have had a mixed session, because we have a run of Saturday-Tuesday games coming up.

“We just want to keep that competitive edge – that’s the main thing.

“We want to try and improve again and that’s been our angle of approach after Forest Green.

“We want to try and improve on our start to the game.

“Yes we finished the (Swindon) game particularly well and Leyton Orient have conceded a couple of late goals.

“But the other night (against Crewe Alexandra) they could have gone 2-1 up and missed a penalty, which totally turned the game on its head.

“I look at the finer margins, which do seem to make a big difference at this level.

“The better ones we make in those fine margins, the more points we’ll pick up and we’re looking to do that again on Saturday.”

Colchester will be aiming to maintain their recent defensive solidity today.

The U’s have kept five clean sheets in their last seven games and boast the fourth-best defensive record in the fourth tier.

“Defenders are a huge part of the team,” added McGreal.

“As much as we want to see the goals going in, there’s two sides to the game.

“When defenders are playing particularly well, they have to get applauded too and I’m a big believer in that.

“Sometimes, defenders don’t get all of the rewards the attackers or goalkeeper get.

“I’m pleased for the back four and that gives us the foundation and licence to go and attack a little bit more, which we did at Swindon.

“I want to continue that, knowing that we have a solid back line with the goalkeeper and an attacking force to go and cause problems.”