Colchester United’s players’ must forget about their glamour tie with Spurs for now - and concentrate solely on beating Scunthorpe United.

That is the view of U’s assistant manager David Wright, who insists their forthcoming meeting with Tottenham Hotspur will not be a distraction against the Iron at Glanford Park tomorrow.

Much of the talk among Colchester supporters has been dominated by their televised FA Cup fourth-round tie with Spurs tomorrow week, which was sealed following Mauricio Pochettino’s side’s 2-0 replay win over Leicester City.

But prior to that much-anticipated tie, Kevin Keen’s side have a crucial League One game against Scunthorpe where they will be hoping to close the gap on the teams above the bottom four.

And Wright says helping Colchester stay up is all that the motivation their players need, rather than thinking about pitting their wits against Spurs’ Premier League stars.

Wright said: “We’ve been concentrating on Scunthorpe and trying to beat them.

“The players understand how important the game is against Scunthorpe.

“We have 19 games left and we need points - the focus is solely on that and we’ll cross the Tottenham bridge next week.

“I don’t think the players need any more motivation.

“I think staying in this league is massive – it’s big for the club and it’s big for them as individuals.

“You don’t want to be part of a team that gets relegated either individually or collectively.

“It is very important, they know that and they don’t need any geeing up in any way for it.”

Colchester are yet to win a league game since Keen and Wright took charge of managerial duties, on December 21.

The U’s displays have generally improved under the duo but they have drawn two and lost three of their opening five league matches at the helm.

“It’s been really cruel on the players not to get the three points, because their performance levels have been really good,” added former U’s midfielder Wright.

“They beat Charlton (in the FA Cup) but they haven’t got the three points to think ‘yes we are doing the right things’ but I feel the first win is around the corner.

“All the boys will be looking at the table and doing the maths.

“They don’t need to be scared and looking at recent performances, I think it’s more than do-able.”

For a three-page preview of Colchester's game against Scunthorpe, see Friday's Daily Gazette.