STEVE Ball has urged his Colchester United to end their wait for a victory this afternoon - and embark on a winning run.

The U’s make the long trip up to Morecambe on the back of a six-game winless sequence and have not secured three points since their triumph at Scunthorpe United, at the start of last month.

However, Colchester produced an encouraging display in their 1-1 draw with current League Two leaders Cambridge United, last weekend.

And U’s boss Ball is confident his team will be able to follow that up with three vital points this afternoon at the Globe Arena, where they have not lost in their four visits to the venue.

Ball said: “You can look at it in different ways.

“With the glass half full, I’m going to say we’ve played two top-three teams - a team who are top of the league now in Cambridge and Cheltenham – and picked up two points.

“I want to win, we want to win but it is tight in this league.

“We want to be up there at that top end of the table and that’s going to happen by winning games, so we’re ready to go.

“Let’s go and get a good win and get that run going again.”

Ball says he will be preparing his side for a ‘tough battle’ against Morecambe.

But the U’s head coach is confident that they can perform well – and avenge last month’s home defeat at the hands of the Shrimps.

Colchester were beaten 2-1 by Morecambe at the JobServe Community Stadium last month, their only league defeat on home soil this season.

Ball said: “That game taught us a lot about what they had but we obviously knew anyway.

“They’ve got some really good offensive threats with Stockton, Mendes, Wildig and Phillips who are all good players, at this level.

“I watched them the other night against Walsall and it’s a very hard place to go as we all know over the years with the club.

“It’s a place where we’ve found it hard to win although we’ve picked up points there but we’ve had a really good session (on Thursday) linked to how we’re going to go about it.

“We’re prepared for a tough battle but it’s one we feel we can obviously do well in.

“The players who played against Cambridge were still leggy even on Tuesday because of the pitch last weekend and it’s heavy up there.

“But with recovery and science and the way we go about it with good processes in place, the players are fresh and ready to go.”

Meanwhile Ball has admitted that attacker Luke Gambin is likely to have played his last game for Colchester.

The Malta international, who is out of contract at the U’s in the summer, this week joined Newport County on loan until the end of the season after finding his first-team opportunities limited at the JobServe Community Stadium.

"I would say that's probably it for Luke here, yes," said Ball.

"He's been with us for a couple of years and he hasn't played as much as he'd want to, over the two seasons.

"But Luke is a great lad and he's one that works hard every day.

"I think it's best for both parties.

"Like any club, we look at who's playing and who's not in squads.

"I have to say on record that Luke has been excellent with his attitude and he understands the reasons why I've decided not to go with him, of late.

"I wouldn't say he was happy with it and every player wants to play but he also understands that I have a team to pick and a squad to pick.

"The call from (Newport manager) Mike Flynn came through to the football club and from Luke's side of it, he wanted to go with regards to them doing well and obviously having a chance to play more games."