COLCHESTER United boss John McGreal insists consistency is key heading into the closing weeks of the League Two campaign.

The U's are sixth and in the thick of the promotion race, following last weekend's excellent 3-0 victory at Carlisle United.

They have nine games left, including a quickfire double-header of home games against Scunthorpe United, on Saturday, and Crewe Alexandra, on Tuesday.

And McGreal says consistency is all-important, as opposed to setting targets in terms of the number of points his side need.

When asked if he had a personal target, he said: "No, not really.

"The main thing is that we find a level of consistency.

"We won last week, and have won two of our last three, and now we're looking for further improvement this weekend.

"There are 27 points left to play for. That's a huge amount.

"Teams will still fancy their chances and we tend to see a few quirky results at this stage of the season.

"We have to make sure we're not one of them this weekend, by sticking to what we do well and playing the way we want to play.

"You hear little snippets of interviews from other managers and I don't think there are any out there who would say they've got nothing to play for.

"It's all about winning games of football."

McGreal welcomes back defender Omar Sowunmi, following his one-match suspension for his red card in the Cheltenham Town defeat.

Tom Lapslie and Miles Welch-Hayes are also knocking on the first-team door, having got valuable minutes under their belts playing for the under-23s on Monday.

"It was great for both to get some minutes," said McGreal.

"Both have missed a lot of game time and training time and both came through with no ill effects."