Colchester United face seven games in the space of 21 days

DANNY Cowley insists his Colchester United players are in ‘fight mode’ as they embark on their most demanding period of the season so far.

The U’s home clash with Wrexham on Saturday is the first of seven games in the space of 21 days for the club, as they strive to secure their EFL status.

It promises to be a testing time for Colchester both physically and mentally but boss Cowley says his team will be meeting the challenge head on.

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Cowley said: “We’re not in survival mode – we’re in fight mode.

“We’re attacking this.

“We’re not getting through this, we’re enjoying it.

“We have seven games in 21 days, which is a brilliant challenge.

“Since we’ve come in, the message has always been about running towards the challenge.

“We see it as such an exciting opportunity for us.

“I think it’s going to test us physically, it’s going to test us mentally and we’re really looking forward to learning a lot about ourselves.

Gazette:

“Our energy levels are really good.

“We have May and June which are just horrendous months – they’re the most boring months in the history of months, because we don’t get any football!

“I don’t even know why they have the time they do in the calendar!

“I say to them all the time ‘come on, get better and then you get to play in the Premier League in May or in internationals, in June, which is much more fun'.

“You don’t want eight weeks off - what do you do in those eight weeks? It’s just horrendous.

“I hate weddings, they’re so boring!

“I’m not against marriage but weddings are just so long! Eight hours, ten hours – who decides that!”

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Colchester have a near fully-fit squad to choose from for their game with promotion-chasing Wrexham.

Only Mandela Egbo, Zach Mitchell and Marley Marshall Miranda are definitely ruled out of this weekend’s game.

The likes of Riley Harbottle and Jayden Richardson have found themselves out of the matchday 18 of late but head coach Cowley insists they will need everyone, between now and the end of the season.

“It definitely won’t just be about 11 people, that is for sure,” added Cowley.

“It’s going to be the whole squad, the whole club, the whole community.

Gazette:

“I see the boys that are starting giving it everything they’ve got, fighting and giving their all to the cause.

“I see the finishers coming on with big influence and enthusiasm and big impact.

“And then I see the boys just outside the squad staying really mentally strong, training really hard, preparing properly with all of the professionalism they have and being ready, because we’ll need them.

“It might not be until we play Crewe on April 27 but we need them and they need to be ready.

“This is your duty as a professional footballer.

“You owe to the millions of people who would love to be a professional footballer just for one day to make sure that you are the best professional and do it to the best of your ability.”