Drey Wright says the appointment of John McGreal as Colchester United’s head coach has had a positive impact on everyone.

The U’s head to Portsmouth tomorrow in confident mood, having taken seven points from a possible nine from their opening three League Two games this season.

Colchester are looking to bounce back after their relegation this season under McGreal, who was appointed as Kevin Keen’s successor last May.

And winger Wright, who has started every league game so far this season for the U’s, says the club’s players are enjoying their football.

Wright said: “John and Bally (Steve Ball) coming in have had a really positive impact on everyone that was here before.

“We suffered relegation but we’ve had a real uplift and a change of mentality which we want to take forward going into games.

“A lot of new faces have come in but the new boys have had a real positive impact on everybody here.

“I played under John for quite a while in the under-21s so I know what he expects from his wide players and hopefully he can put that into practice in the first team.

“But he has also brought new ideas which the other managers haven’t so there has been a change with the first team but it seems to be working out OK so far.

“We feel pretty secure all over the pitch and we all know our jobs down to a tee.

“It’s working so hard so it’s a case of us all knowing our jobs and applying ourselves.

“We talked about it a lot in pre-season, making sure that we all know our jobs both on and off the ball because that was an area we all felt that we had to improve on.”

Colchester head to Portsmouth tomorrow, hoping to continue their impressive start to the season at Fratton Park.

“Portsmouth is an exciting fixture for anyone in the league because of the stature of the club, so we’ll be looking to go there and keep up the positive performances that we’ve had so far,” added Wright.

“I played there a few years ago when they were in League One and the atmosphere was unbelievable then.

“They’ve got quite a lot of expectation on them so hopefully, we can make something work.”