COLCHESTER United head coach John McGreal still has “tons of belief” in his confidence-sapped squad.

The U’s are hovering precariously just about the League Two relegation trapdoor after Saturday’s disastrous 3-0 defeat at home to Leyton Orient.

They have only won one of their last 12 matches - and that was via a penalty shoot-out, against Charlton Athletic in the Checkatrade Trophy.

McGreal admits confidence levels within his squad have dipped.

However, he still has faith in the players to turn things round and not get sucked into a relegation dogfight.

“You can see one or two of them are lacking confidence and belief – you can clearly see that,” said the former defender, whose side are just a point clear of the bottom two and have not won in the league for two months.

“When they get the ball, they want to get rid of it as quickly as possible.

“That has to come from within but also we’ll keep giving them confidence to keep getting on the ball and keep playing.

“I’ve still got tons of belief in the squad.

“It’s up to myself, (assistant manager) Steve (Ball) and the players to get us out of this bad form we’re in.

“Does negativity in the ground have an effect? Of course it has an effect.

“But it’s up to the individual and group of players to brush it aside, step forward and keep doing things right.

“It’s about getting into those good habits which we’ve walked away from.”

McGreal said that one major positive from Saturday was the return of Brennan Dickenson and Tom Lapslie.

Both featured against Charlton in the Checkatrade Trophy but had not played in the league since September.

“Brennan has been out for seven weeks but he’s desperate to play, knowing the position we’re in, and Tom Lapslie’s the same,” said the U’s boss.

“With Dicko coming back and getting man-of-the-match, it just proves he’s not that far away from being excellent again.

“The two of them coming back is a bonus and they have 90 minutes under their belt.”