Colchester United boss Tony Humes insists his players will relish stepping into the lion’s den at Millwall.

The London ground is regarding as a tough and sometimes hostile one to visit.

However, Humes says his players will approach it as they would any fixture - and points to the fact they have already won at the likes of Sheffield United and Swindon.

“Millwall have got a great crowd that get behind their team,” he said.

“I was there the other day and they were fantastic.

“But we’ve been quite positive both home and away, regardless of where we’re playing.

“The players see it as a challenge and want to take it on.

“We have to go there and play our game and it’s about getting it right on the day.

“Like any match, it’s going to be tough but it’s another winnable one and we’ve got to go into it with that mindset.

“We know it’s going to be competitive and that we’re up against some very experienced, quality ex-Championship players.

“But if we play to our utmost, we’ll give them a game.

“Hopefully our quality will come through and there’s no reason why we can’t go there and get something.”

Humes sees Millwall, who were relegated last season, as among the favourites for an immediate return to the Championship.

“They certainly should be, given their size and history and where they’ve been,” said the U’s boss.

“It’s been five or six years since they were last in League One.

“Given the resources they’ve got, they should be one of the favourites to go up.

“(Lions boss) Neil (Harris) is doing a great job to get them back where they were and they’re looking very powerful now.”

Humes hopes his side learn from their defensive errors, in last week’s defeat at home to Coventry.

Colchester took the lead but suffered a 3-1 defeat, against the Sky Blues.

“We gave sloppy goals away,” said the U’s boss.

“Individual errors were the main cause but we’re not in a blame culture.

“People know when they’ve made a mistake.

“It’s a collective thing and we don’t have an argumentative dressing room.

“Obviously you have to have healthy debates and opinions.

“But we want to produce a positive, learning environment that makes people want to go out and play.

“We’re not going to change that just because we’ve shipped goals through individual errors.

“Negativity just makes people concerned and more mistakes will probably happen because of it.”

For all of the latest Colchester United news, see the Daily Gazette.