Colchester United head coach John McGreal admits the carrot of moving into League Two’s automatic promotion places should act as added incentive for his players tomorrow.

The U’s, who are unbeaten in six matches, can potentially rise to third spot in the table with victory over Cheltenham Town at the Weston Homes Community Stadium with none of the teams above them in action due to the FA Cup third round.

Colchester head into the match on the back of a run of just two defeats in their last 17 league games and have not conceded in their last three fixtures – and boss McGreal says they are targeting three points.

McGreal said: “We have a game where others don’t and they have another enforced break.

“We could potentially go third with a win and that would be fantastic if that happened.

“We’ve already alluded to that as a squad but it’s three points – if we get it then great and that’s the biggest thing.

“There’s still 20 games to go and it’s going to go down to the wire.

“It looks as though the top two teams are pulling themselves away especially Luton but I think all of the teams down to about 13th place are all involved.

“It’s one where we just have to try and look after ourselves.

“We’ll keep hitting the boys with different targets but it’s one game at a time.

“Over the last 17 games, we’ve taken 33 points, an average of 1.94 a game.

“That’s quite excellent in this division and in those 17 games, we’ve kept nine clean sheets.

“It’s one where we all have to keep growing together and keep pushing.

“The platform to do that with is that good defence and the clean sheets.

“We’ve had chances which we haven’t been able to take but the boys are in a fantastic place - now we have to continue that hard work.”

Colchester will be looking to avenge their loss against Cheltenham back in September, when they were beaten 3-1 by the Robins at Whaddon Road.

It was a disappointing day for the U’s, with Sammie Szmodics bagging their consolation goal in a match where striker Mikael Mandron received his marching orders for a deliberate handball.

However, Colchester’s form has improved significantly since then and they have lost only three league games since.

“When we last played Cheltenham, they were on a great run of form at that time,” said McGreal.

“They were getting good results, not only against us but against other teams.

“We had a man sent off there and the game became fractured.

“We’ve had a good look at them lately and they’ve won and lost games but it’s about us. We’re at home and we want to improve on the middle part of that second half (against Cambridge) and it’s about what we try and do to get the three points.”

McGreal admits he has some selection issues to ponder, as Colchester aim to secure victory after two successive goal-less draws.

Sean Murray and Cole Kpekawa were both recalled to the U’s starting line-up against Cambridge United after a gruelling programme of four games in nine days.

But Brandon Comley and Kyel Reid could return to the U’s side tomorrow.

Midfielder Doug Loft is back in training following his shoulder injury but centre-back Ryan Inniss has not trained and is not considered ready for return.

However, Colchester received a double dose of good news on the injury front yesterday.

Club captain Luke Prosser, who has not played a first-team game since November 2016 because of a knee injury, played 45 minutes for the U’s under-23s in their 3-0 friendly win over Leyton Orient at Shrub End.

Prosser is likely to play against Chelmsford City next Tuesday night for the under-23s. for whom Courtney Senior, Eli Phipps and Tarryn Allarakhia all netted against the O’s.

Meanwhile, last season’s Player of the Year Brennan Dickenson, who has been out since February 2017, was involved in first-team training yesterday for the first time since suffering knee injury.

McGreal added: “It’s fantastic news – we know it’s going to be late February before he’s back so it was great for him to be involved.”