WAYNE Brown wants his Colchester United side to 'hit the ground running' when they host League Two leaders Forest Green Rovers tonight.

The U's are aiming to claim a precious victory in their bid to pull further away from the relegation zone, while the visitors are hoping to get back on track after a seven-match winless run.

In addition to being a Game for Ukraine, the match at the JobServe Community Stadium is also being screened live on Sky Sports.

Colchester interim boss Brown wants his side to come out of the traps quickly, against their promotion-chasing opponents.

Brown said: “It’s only a good time to play teams if we’re at the races.

“We prepare to hit the ground running and take games to the opposition.

“Sometimes it doesn’t work out like that but that’s football.

“The mental capacity should be on how to win a game of football.

“There’s a little bit of luck involved; you do need to hit teams at the right time.

“They’re obviously on a run of form at the moment which isn’t really conducive and great for what they want to achieve in the game.

“But we’re not worried about anyone else; we’re worried about what we do and how we do it and how we’re going to give ourselves the best chance of winning games against no matter who in the league, whether they’re top or they’re bottom.

“That’s our aim, as a team and as a collective and if teams are on a poor run, we have to take advantage of that.

“We have to start games well and take the game to them and that will obviously be the aim."

Gazette:

Colchester, who lie eight points above the relegation zone, have fared well against some of the division's leading teams since Brown took charge in January.

They have beaten Port Vale and pushed the likes of Bristol Rovers and Mansfield Town hard, over recent weeks.

“We fear no-one and that’s the message you’ve got to get into the lads," added Brown.

“I think that’s been evident; we’ve played Salford, Orient, Bristol Rovers, Port Vale, some real tough games but they’re all winnable games and they’re all games where we can take points off good teams.

“That’s the belief and the confidence that we have throughout the squad.

“Joe (Dunne) spoke to a few people at Bristol having been there previously and they were really impressed with the way that we set up, the way we were disciplined, the way that we were hard to break down but also with the way that we did create opportunities to score goals away from home, against a really good team.

“The belief and confidence is there from the lads, albeit we didn’t get the result that we probably deserved and wanted.

“But there’s loads of positives to take from that game and into Monday."