Ben Stevenson has shown his quality after being recalled to Colchester United's starting line-up, according to head coach John McGreal.

The return of Stevenson, who is on loan from Championship leaders Wolves until the end of the season, has coincided with the U's picking up back-to-back wins in League Two against Luton Town and Stevenage.

Stevenson provided the assists for goals from Tom Eastman and Luke Prosser in Colchester's 2-1 win over the Hatters on Good Friday and boss McGreal feels the young midfielder is showing his class.

McGreal said: “We’ve brought Ben into the team and he’s put it on the money every time and showed that quality.

“Potentially, he’s going to be a Premier League player next season and he’s very hard to mark because he plays off his first touch, which is a fantastic habit to have.

“Ben has taken a little bit of a knock so we’re hoping he’s going to be OK for Monday.

“We worked on set pieces all the time but we did it a little bit differently going into the game and it worked.

“It’s something I might look at and continue to do but first and foremost, we were sounding out deliveries the other week at Morecambe which wasn’t good.

“The set pieces were of good quality – we keep challenging boys to win games on set pieces and we did that, which is great.

“Tom’s was a powerful header and big Luke got in at the back post, got above everyone and nodded it down.

“They were two different headers but two great goals for us.".

McGreal also hailed the return of skipper Prosser, after he capped another fine display with a goal against Luton.

McGreal said: “We had to look after Luke a couple of weeks ago because we knew he’d been out for a long time and you do notice when he’s out of the team.

“You miss his vocal nature around the boys but also his dominance in the air."

Colchester travel to play Forest Green Rovers tomorrow in League Two looking to close the gap on the teams in the top seven.

The U's lie six points off the play-off positions with six games remaining after taking seven points from a possible nine, in their last three matches.

McGreal added: “After two good away performances, we came back home after two poor performances there of late against Yeovil and Barnet and I thought that we were terrific.

“The challenge is to try and win games and see where we are.

“We still believe the play-offs are distant – we’ve given ourselves a chance but teams in this division take points off each other.

“We just have to look after ourselves and we have our own challenges in house."