Colchester United head coach John McGreal has hinted he could opt for a change in formation for their trip to play Accrington Stanley on Saturday.

The U’s are likely to be without a dozen players for the League Two game at the Crown Ground, where they will be looking to get back to winning ways following their home defeat at the hands of Crawley Town.

Colchester have enjoyed plenty of success with the 3-5-2 system they have deployed in recent months, losing only two of their last 13 games since switching to the formation.

But boss McGreal was disappointed with the nature of the three goals his side conceded against Crawley and that could prompt him to switch to a back four and the tactics they used earlier in the campaign.

McGreal said: “We tweaked the shape at the end (against Crawley) going back to a 4-3-3 and that’s a little bit of food for thought really for Saturday, with the injuries we have in those positions.

“If you look at the players that we’re missing, they’re quality players.

“Every team in this division would miss those players and there are 12 or 13 players out.

“Will it take a bit of running to get into the team? We can’t allow that. We have to be up to speed straight away because the games are coming thick and fast.

“We do defend well and we have been hard to beat but that wasn’t the case (against Crawley).

“There were defensive mistakes and a set piece – they were poor games to give away.

“We’ve huffed and puffed late on and got the second goal but time ran out.

“I can’t fault them again for effort and they’re putting in a hell of a shift at the minute.

“Boys are coming in from not having any game time and they’re getting that at the minute so we’ll regroup and go again for Accrington on Saturday.”

McGreal admits Colchester have no time to dwell on the Crawley defeat, which was their first at home since November.

“We can’t feel sorry for ourselves – it’s now a case of regrouping and assessing where we’ve gone wrong,” added the U’s boss.

“We have another game on Saturday and we travel on Friday.

“I can’t knock the boys and they’re a great bunch; it’s two defeats in 13 and they’ve been on a hell of a run.

“But we have to regroup and we can’t dwell on the Crawley defeat.

“They’ve had the plaudits but now we have to do what we did after the Exeter game after a good run and making a fist of it again on Saturday.”