John McGreal insists his Colchester United players should not need any extra motivation to get back to winning ways at Morecambe tonight.

The U’s go into the clash on the back of a disappointing four-match winless run which has left them nine points adrift of the League Two play-off places, with nine games remaining.

Colchester slumped to a miserable 1-0 home loss to Yeovil Town last weekend and ahead of the rearranged match at the Globe Arena, head coach McGreal feels his side should need no greater incentive than to end their barren sequence without a victory.

McGreal said: “We had targets in terms of where we wanted to get to, in and around the play-offs.

“But it’s one where you shouldn’t really be having to pick them up, because they should be chomping at the bit knowing that there’s a game on Tuesday to get this (Yeovil) game out of their system quite quickly.

“It’s when it goes Saturday to Saturday that things fester but now we can try and move on pretty quickly and prep for the game against Morecambe.”

Colchester will tonight be aiming to record their first win against a side in the bottom half of the table since winning 2-0 at Crawley Town, on Boxing Day.

Morecambe lie in 18th position in League Two – eight points above the relegation zone – and are looking for a win to pull further away from the bottom two.

McGreal said: “It’s about confidence against the lower teams but I do think it’s a much of a muchness in this division.

“Yeovil went to Exeter the other night and played out a 0-0 draw.”

Colchester will assess the fitness of Brennan Dickenson and Ryan Jackson ahead of the Morecambe clash.

Both players missed the Yeovil defeat last weekend, due to quad and ankle injuries respectively.

Ryan Inniss could return to the squad after the Crystal Palace loanee missed Colchester’s last two matches due to a knee injury.

McGreal said: “Ryan has been injured for a few weeks now.

“He’s hurt his knee, his medial collateral ligament but we’re looking now to try and get him back in this week.”

McGreal could stick with Drey Wright in a left wing-back role, after he impressed there against Yeovil last weekend.

The versatile 22-year-old slotted into the role after Dickenson was ruled out through injury.

McGreal said: “It was a blow to lose Dicko but I thought Drey (Wright) came in and was man of the match – he did a terrific job on that left-hand side.”