ALEX Dyer will be hoping to help lead Colchester United to victory at Swindon Town tomorrow, in the absence of head coach Hayden Mullins.

And when the U’s assistant manager arrives at his pre-match team talk, he might be tempted to his own successful experiences at the County Ground in drawing inspiration for his players.

During his productive playing career, Dyer scored four times for visiting teams at Swindon.

Indeed, he only ended up on the losing side once in his six appearances there for the likes of Charlton Athletic, Blackpool and Huddersfield Town.

Now he is hoping to lead the U’s to similar success against the Robins, as they aim to get back to winning ways in League Two.

“It’s a nice ground with a good atmosphere and we’re looking forward to it,” said Dyer, who made nearly 550 league and cup appearances for 11 clubs in his 17-year professional playing career.

“It should be a good game.

“We want to play, we want to pass and we want to get bodies in the box.

“We want players to go out and express themselves and they do that.

“We know that it's going to be a tough game.

“I’m not really surprised that they're doing well.

“Sometimes, when you’re organising you can dwell on bringing players in and it’s a distraction.

“They've had to make do and do it quickly and sometimes, it works in your favour.

“They've got good players in that side and they’ve got a manager who although he’s young, has been around and has good knowhow.

“We’ll look forward to it; it’s going to be a good game because they’re a team who play and want to pass the ball.

“We’ve just got to match that and make sure that we impose ourselves on the game.”

Gazette:

Colchester, who welcome back experienced defender Luke Chambers from suspension, are hoping to bounce back following their disappointing 1-0 home defeat at the hands of Crawley Town, last weekend.

The U's away form has been excellent this season so far and they are unbeaten on their travels, in sharp contrast to their results at the JobServe Community Stadium where they are still yet to win, in the current campaign.

"The performance last week wasn't so bad," said Dyer.

"We created a lot of chances.

"We've been good away from home; the home team are usually on the front foot and we can counter attack them a bit.

"Saying that, we still create a lot of chances and it's up to us to be more clinical in front of goal, not just the strikers but everyone in the team and carry on doing the stuff we do away from home.

"I don't think it will be a 'home and away' season - we'll get to a point where we'll start winning at home, hopefully the next time we play there.

"There's enough in that changing room to turn it around but we're concentrating on getting a result in this game.

"There's not many games gone and there's no need to panic.

"The Crawley defeat wasn't great for the club but we're looking forward to the weekend now - we've put that one to bed and ready to go."