Johnston is expecting an attractive game

The hosts will be looking to bounce back from back-to-back defeats in London League division one north.

And they will be hoping to put on a good show in front of their own fans against another side that likes to play an expansive brand of running rugby.

Johnston said: “We beat Old Haberdashers twice last year and we’re looking forward to facing them this year.

“They like to play an eye-catching game of rugby, the same as we do.

“And this game will be a good measure of where we are against a side with a similar style to our own.

“Games against lot of teams we face in this league can be more attritional so we’re looking forward to this one and it should be a good one for spectators.”

Colchester have slipped down to fourth in the league after last weekend’s 20-13 defeat at Brentwood and the previous week’s loss against Eton Manor.

But Johnston doesn’t feel the twin setbacks will hit his team’s plans to progress this season.

Johnston added: “Every team will have purple patches and also matches where you have hard results like we had against Brentwood and Eton Manor.

“But we have always said we are performance orientated rather than results orientated. “And when you work like that it is easy to find the next step to get development, “ he added.

“No development path will be smooth and you may have to take a step back and revise things to get them right.

“But these two results haven’t put the brakes on anything.

“I don’t think we were any more conservative in our performance at Brentwood after the Eton Manor defeat,” said the boss who is focussed on success this weekend. “But it is a natural response for players to think about things that may not have gone right.

“We may see that again, but mistakes are OK.

“It’s how you learn from them that is the key.

“There will be the odd player who has had their confidence knocked, but that certainly won’t be detrimental to the team,” he added.