Colchester United head coach John McGreal insists expectation levels are as high for his side as they are for their opponents Notts County today.

The U’s head into the clash four points off the play-off places with four games remaining and host a Magpies side who lie fifth in the League Two table.

As one of the biggest clubs in the fourth tier, Kevin Nolan’s side were tipped by many observers to challenge for automatic promotion places, this season.

But despite the disparity in size between the two clubs, boss McGreal feels there is as much expectancy at Colchester as there is at Meadow Lane.

McGreal said: “We know the expectations of them are high – but it’s no higher than the expectations we put on ourselves.

“We’ve got our own philosophy and belief which has stood us in good stead at this moment in time.

“Kevin will still feel that they have a chance of getting into the top three – I think that’s how they will look at it.

“It’s tight in that area but they got a late win over Coventry last week and that will have given them a lift.

“We know that it’s going to be a big, strong team against us and they have huge experience with the likes of Richard Duffy, Elliott Hewitt an ex-player of ours, up to the boys up front, whether it’s Forte, Ameobi or Stead.

“You know there’s going to be a lot of experience right through the spine of the team.

“We felt we did really well when we played them up there last November and Kevin (Nolan) was really complimentary afterwards, saying we were the best team that they’d faced up until then which is nice.

“We’ve carried that on and that reputation that we’ve got throughout the division is from the top to the bottom.”

Colchester will be hoping to bounce back from their 1-0 loss to leaders Accrington Stanley when they take on Notts County, this afternoon.

“What I want to do is play good, natural football, which I feel we’ve been doing of late," added McGreal.

“We had been getting our rewards but we played the top of the league side.

“Accrington have been up there for the majority of the season, as have Notts County.

“We know what we have to try and do and we know what we’re good at, so we just have to try and implement one or two others things to get the goal that we possibly didn’t do last Saturday and hopefully, we can do that."

Cole Kpekawa has left Colchester after his contract was cancelled by mutual consent.

The defender played eight times since joining the U's from Championship side Barnsley, last summer and has struggled to nail down a place in McGreal's side.