COLCHESTER United head coach John McGreal wants to see a reaction from his side when they host Morecambe tomorrow.

The U’s dropped out of League Two’s automatic promotion places after they lost 2-1 at home to Stevenage, on Boxing Day.

It was Colchester’s first league defeat at the JobServe Community Stadium since September and ahead of their final home match of 2018, boss McGreal wants a response against the Shrimps.

McGreal said: “There’s another game coming up quickly and it’s nice to be back at home.

“Teams get beaten and it’s how you react.

“We have a nice game coming up on Saturday but it’s going to be a tough one.

“I know the two lads at Morecambe and they’ve done a particularly great job.

“Defeats are tough to take, whether it’s home or away.

“It’s unfortunate that other teams around us have lost too and we haven’t been able to capitalise on it but there’s another game coming up quickly.

“We need that consistency which we haven’t got at the minute.

“We need that to stay in and around that top seven and be successful.

“After the win at MK Dons, we haven’t been able to build on that so we’ll go back to training and try and put it right (against Morecambe) on Saturday.”

McGreal must decide whether or not to recall Kane Vincent-Young to his starting line up tomorrow.

The full-back was on the bench for the Stevenage clash but came on as a half-time substitute for Frankie Kent, in the 2-1 loss.

Colchester switched to a flat back four after the interval and boss McGreal could opt to stick with that system, against Morecambe.

Kent, who had been booked in the first half against Stevenage, has been in good form of late and McGreal rates him highly.

He said: “I’ve gone on record on how well Frankie has been performing.

“January is around the corner and we’re hoping that nothing is going to happen.

“He’s enjoying his football and he’s learning every day.

“He’s still asking questions which is great and that’s the big thing with his development.”

Loanee Aaron Collins has not been among the substitutes for Colchester in their last two games, prompting rumours that he could return to Wolves.

Collins is on a season-long loan from the Premier League club but has managed only one league start for them, this season.

McGreal added: “It was manager’s decisions – we have a squad and we have to rotate it around.”