John McGreal wants his Colchester United side to go back to basics – and give the club’s supporters something to cheer about.

The U’s, who could hand a debut to three of their deadline-day signings when they host Newport County tomorrow, have gone six games without a win and find themselves seven points adrift of the League Two play-off positions after a miserable January.

But Colchester have been boosted by the deadline-day loan signings of striker Liam Mandeville, midfielder Ben Stevenson and winger Olamide Shodipo – and head coach McGreal wants them to reignite their promotion push in the final three months of the campaign.

He said: “January didn’t really work out for us but if you look at the bigger picture, I think it’s three or four defeats in around 22 games.

“We’ve drawn a lot of games and that’s been our main problem, at this moment in time with this blip we’re in.

“We’ve got to get back to basics and get the fans behind us and that can only come from us.

“Let’s go and have a go.

“The squad is really developing for what is a big push – that’s what we’ve been trying to get into the boys.

“We’re just one point off where we were last year and there’s 16 games left, which is a good number of games and a good chunk of the season.

“Let’s have a good go and get the fans right behind us from minute one on Saturday against tough opposition.

“Let’s get together and have a good go at this, because stranger things can happen and everyone beats each other in this league.”