Colchester United’s revitalised players will be counting down the days until their next game.

That’s the view of U’s legend Karl Duguid, who says the current squad will be relishing the winning feeling ahead of this weekend’s big clash with Carlisle United.

Colchester have won their last four matches and have taken 19 points from a possible 21, in their seven-match unbeaten run.

Duguid, recently appointed Stanway Rovers’ new boss, was a key member of the last U’s side to win five successive league matches in their 2005-06 promotion-winning season.

That successful team memorably won ten league and cup matches in a row and the former Colchester captain says there is nothing better than being part of a buoyant side.

Duguid said: “When we were in that run in the promotion season and when we were playing at home in that first season in the Championship, we used to have the feeling that as soon as we went in front, it would be a case of game over for other sides.

“It wasn’t a case of whether or not we were going to win – it was a case of how many we were going to win by and I think there’s an element of that about this run, too.

“When you’re doing well and winning games like Colchester have been doing, as a player you can’t wait for another game to come along.

“Training becomes more enjoyable and there’s a great atmosphere around the club.

“You’re winning games and you get into that zone and everyone wants to have that winning mentality, which they have at the moment.

“I think they got used to losing as a football club and going down last season was a kick in the teeth, so there’s no better feeling than winning football matches.

“And when you’re on that kind of run, you probably end up winning games when you haven’t necessarily played that well and they’re the kind of games that the manager likes.

“When you’re in that kind of zone, you can probably carry a couple of players because not everyone is going to play well in every single game.

“Consistency is important – before this run there had been some great performances but the results hadn’t been consistent enough.

“They’d played well and not won games before this run but they’ve set a bar for themselves now and it’s how you want to be in every single game, because you enjoy it so much.”

Colchester’s current winning form is a far cry from their predicament a few weeks ago, when they found themselves in the relegation zone following a ten-match winless run.

Now they’re flying and Duguid says boss John McGreal and his players deserve credit for turning their flagging fortunes around so quickly.

“It’s great to see and a massive contrast to six weeks ago when at one stage during one of their games they found themselves bottom of the league,” said Duguid, who made more than 450 appearances for the U’s during his two spells with the club.

“It was all doom and gloom then and they must look back now and think “how were we there?”.

“They were down the bottom a few weeks ago and there weren’t good vibes coming out.

“Kurtis Guthrie had his say in public a few weeks ago and in a strange way, it seems to have galvanised everyone.

“He was disappointed with what had gone on but the good thing is that he’s backed it up with his performances and that’s all you can ask from players.

“I think he’s going to become a firm favourite with the fans.

“It’s not great when you see them down the bottom but all credit to the players and the manager, who has changed the system and it’s worked very well.

“They’ve had a lot of injuries but all credit to the manager and the players for what they’ve done to turn things around. I think they are where they should be now as a football club and that’s meant in a good way.”