DANNY Cowley says Colchester United will make the long trek to Barrow in a ‘good place’ after some extra tactical work on the training ground.

The U’s make the 325-mile trip to Holker Street today looking forward to returning to action, after the disappointment of having last weekend's home clash with Stockport County postponed.

Colchester are aiming to secure a vital win in their battle to beat the drop, against a Barrow side who are in the mix for League Two promotion.

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The U’s have been able to devote more time working on tactics at Florence Park this week and boss Cowley says they have used it wisely.

Cowley said: “I think for us, it’s to see the positive in any situation.

“It’s given us a bit of extra time to get back on the grass and to train, so we go into the game on Saturday against a really good Barrow team in a good place, in terms of the health of the squad.

“This week, we’ve had two really good days in the early part of the week just doing tactical work, which is so important for where we are with this group.

“We’re a really new group, so the tactical development of the team is still really, really important.

"We need the time to be able to do that and to use the time wisely so to maximise that has been really important.

Gazette: Danny Cowley and Nicky Cowley

“It’s also allowed us to get out to games.

“Nicky and I went to Walsall-Doncaster which was good as we play them next week, so we had a good look at them.

“On Monday night, Nicky and I went to Chelmsford-Worthing, on Tuesday, I went to Wimbledon-Grimsby, Nicky went to Barnet-Rochdale with Yilmaz (Aksoy), Lorenzo (Dolcetti) went to see Woking-Kidderminster and Dmitri (Halajko) went to Southend, so it’s been a good week in that respect to get out and see some different teams and some different players which I think is really important when we look to the future, in terms of recruitment."

Colchester remain five points above the League Two relegation zone heading into tomorrow's game at Barrow, despite their game against Stockport County being called off last weekend.

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“It was disappointing to have the game called off on Saturday; the weekend never feels like the weekend without a game of football," added Cowley.

“I suppose the positive is that we’ve still got the Stockport game to look forward to, which is good.

“We’re going to have a really busy April but a really good April as well, so lots of games to look forward to.

Gazette:

“It’s been a good week.

“Sometimes the Monday becomes a different Monday, when you haven’t played on the Saturday.

“Normally, the Monday is like a pathway day for us, where you have the group that have played, recover and do some correction work on the grass.

“The boys that maybe finished the game and the rest of the squad then do some sort of top-up day where they’re topping up their fitness work or we’ll play a football conditioning day."