Colchester United head coach John McGreal insists all of the pressure is on their promotion-chasing opponents as the season reaches its climax – starting with Portsmouth this weekend.

The U’s still have to host five of the sides currently in the top seven in League Two, as they attempt to close in on at least a play-off spot.

Colchester lie three points off the play-off zone ahead of their clash with third-placed Pompey, with a crowd of around 6,000 expected at the Weston Homes Community Stadium.

And with only leaders Doncaster Rovers boasting more home wins this season in the division, boss McGreal believes his injury-hit squad have nothing to fear from their big games coming up.

McGreal said: “It’s all to play for and we’re not the ones under pressure – I think clubs coming to us are under pressure, the teams that want to stay in and around the top three like Portsmouth, Doncaster and Plymouth.

“The pressure is on them to come and actually beat us - we’re in a really good run of home form and it’s up to us to try and continue that.

“We know that we’ve got good competition coming our way, teams that want to be in the top three and play-offs.

“We have got aspirations of where we want to go, so it’s great for the fans with some big-name teams coming down.

“It’s all to play for and they are great occasions, so it’s something that I’m personally looking forward to.

“The group is a strong group given what’s gone on and the hits that we’ve taken and as a whole as a club, we’re really looking forward to it.”

After taking on Portsmouth, the U’s have another vital home match next Tuesday against fellow promotion-hopefuls Mansfield Town, followed by a trip to Crewe Alexandra next Saturday.

But McGreal is taking each match in isolation and added: “We’ve got three big games coming up over the next seven days and that’s great, because we want these big games to keep coming because we’ve been playing well.

“I think it’s good that these games have got something riding on them and we’ve been waiting for these big games.

“But it’s a case of one game at a time - we’ve done that throughout the season as a group and I’m not going to change now and hit the players with targets and numbers.”