John McGreal has called on his Colchester United side to be braver in their decision-making if they are to avoid shipping more late goals.

The U’s have conceded in the final minutes of two of their last three matches, with Max Ehmer’s stoppage-time free-kick condemning them to a 1-0 defeat to Gillingham in the Checkatrade Trophy on Tuesday night.

The goal came from a set-piece conceded in a dangerous area and boss McGreal admits his team have to learn quickly.

McGreal said: “Free-kicks happen all over the pitch – it’s just the way it’s happened for us of late is that we’ve conceded two late goals.

“It does even itself out but it’s disappointing because against Gillingham, you want to come away with a 0-0 and they hadn’t really done anything to warrant the win and we’ve come away with a defeat.

“We have to shore up on that and be braver in decisions rather than diving in.

“We’re a young team and it’s an exuberance and a naivety at times but they have to learn quickly, because these mistakes are happening at first-team level and we’re up against good quality opposition.”

McGreal must decide whether or not to include Kurtis Guthrie and Craig Slater in his starting line-up against Mansfield today.

Guthrie played for 45 minutes against Gillingham in midweek after making his first competitive appearance in more than seven months as a substitute at Yeovil last weekend, while Slater came off the bench for the final 15 minutes of the Gills defeat.

McGreal said: “If called upon, you know what you’re going to get from Kurtis and he’s still in and around the squad.

“Craig has trained really well and that cameo of 15-20 minutes on Tuesday has just given him another injection to say he’s not far away in the thoughts.”

McGreal has also been boosted by the return of defender Tom Eastman, who has missed Colchester’s last three matches with a hamstring injury.

McGreal said: “Tom has trained well and is back in and around the fold.

“It’s a huge thing to have after he’s missed the last few games.

“He’ll come back into our thinking as well.

“I definitely think things are easing a bit on the injury front.

“We’ve been craving to get these boys back and we have to try and get as many minutes in them as we can.

“We want to get them up to speed because not only do we want to see them play – our fans want to see our best players, too.”

However, Colchester will definitely be without Tom Lapslie against Mansfield, after the midfielder injured his calf while warming up as a substitute at Yeovil last weekend.

Lapslie is set to be out for a fortnight and the U’s also have a doubt over Doug Loft, who is carrying a hamstring strain.

Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that leading scorer Sammie Szmodics is set to be out for four weeks with an ankle injury.