Kaspars Gorkss is confident Colchester United can stay in League One.

But the Latvia international has warned they must be prepared to battle for survival, in the months to come.

Gorkss handed the U’s a boost last week when he put pen to paper on a new short-term deal at the club.

The 33-year-old believes Colchester have some talented players and is sure he can help them move out of relegation danger.

However, the 6ft 3in centre-back knows the U’s must be prepared to roll their sleeves and fight to stay up.

Gorkss said: “I think there’s definitely enough talent for us to stay up.

“We’ve played some good football recently but League One is a strange division.

“It’s not the team who plays the better football and has the most possession who always wins.

“I’ve played in League One before when I came to England.

“As a professional footballer, you need to adapt and adjust and hopefully I’ve done that in the games I’ve played.

“But this league is very specific and it’s not always the talented or skilful sides who win the games.

“It’s a young squad and they still need to learn - even I do - but hopefully we can only progress and improve.

“We need to adjust and learn and improve bits and pieces but there’s a long way to go.

“Anything can happen but I definitely feel we have a chance to stay up.”

Gorkss has played seven league and cup games for Colchester since joining them as a free agent, last November.

They have lost only two of their five league matches he has played in, keeping clean sheets in three of them.

But ahead of crucial back-to-back home fixtures, Gorkss says the only thing that really matters is winning.

“I’m looking forward to every game I get the chance to play at the moment,” added the former Reading defender.

“A big thank you to the club, because they’ve made me feel welcome here - I’ve enjoyed every last bit of it.

“I’m obviously not happy about the two losses at home and I’m sure the manager and the team feel the same way.

“But from the positive side we have four clean sheets, which is always good.

“I look at clean sheets and defenders scoring goals as a bonus.

“The most important thing at the end of the day is winning games.”

For three pages of coverage of the U's game with Walsall, see Friday's Daily Gazette.