JOHN McGreal has called on his Colchester United side to continue their excellent form against promotion rivals when they host Plymouth Argyle tomorrow.

The U’s boast an impressive record against their fellow high-flying sides in League Two, in the current campaign.

Colchester, who lie in sixth spot, have lost just one of the eight games they have so far played against sides currently also residing in the top seven of the table.

The U’s have taken 13 points from a possible 24 in those games and boss McGreal wants more of the same, ahead of their game against the third-placed Pilgrims at the JobServe Community Stadium.

McGreal said: “Hopefully we can maintain that record.

“Plymouth will be a bit different, because they’re hitting wins at this minute both home and away and scoring a load of goals.

“It’s a great challenge for me and the players to go out against a top-form team to try and implement our game and try and get a win at home.

“Our home form has been great.

“We’ve had eight home wins and two defeats there, so we’re hoping to continue that.

“We need the help from the crowd and I can’t mention that enough.

“That really does help at home and it goes without saying.

“That showed against Swindon – yes, we changed it with the subs but the crowd had a huge part to play, too.

“We want to progress on what we did, last year.

“The targets are all in house and we don’t want to say we’re going to do something and then not do it.

“We’ve got our challenges and we’ve got our targets.

“The club and the players are in a great position and the fans are backing us everywhere we go.”

Colchester will be aiming to bounce back tomorrow after surrendering their 16-match league unbeaten run at Cambridge United, last weekend.

The U’s lost 2-1 at the Abbey Stadium to fall to their first league defeat since last October.

“We’ve got to get back to where we were, prior to last Saturday and what a game,” added McGreal.

“This time, last year we were out of the play-offs.

“This year, we’re sixth and in a healthy position against a top-three team who have been flying of late.

“It was a brilliant run – it was over 100 days that we were unbeaten in the league and it’s got us in a healthy position.

“Now we have to start again and there’s no better team to do that who are a form team at this moment in time.

“We got beat – you’ve got no divine right to win every single game.

“We’d been on a three-and-a-half month unbeaten run where we’ve come from behind and we’ve also been winning games and also thrown games away, like we did last Saturday.”