United boss Paul Simpson is expecting another tough test on Saturday when United face Colchester in their first away game of the campaign.
“I think they’re one of the fancied teams but I don’t take much notice of all that kind of prediction and odds kind of thing,” he said. “It will be a tough game, we’re away from home and it’s never an easy journey to make.
“It’s a game we’re really looking forward to, I think their stadium is a good place to go to, the fans are quite close and make a good atmosphere.
“I would imagine we’ll have a really strong following even with the distance. What we need to make sure we do is put on another performance to give the fans a lift, so they all want to come to the home game the week after.
“They’ve got a real good mix of players and some really talented boys. They’ve got players who have spent a lot of time at Ipswich and strikers who have got good history.
“It’s up to us to go and stamp our authority on the game and try and play with a real front-foot mentality. We’ll be positive and see if we can continue where we left off on Saturday.
“As far as I’m concerned we’ve got to continue it. When you have positive momentum you have to keep it going, it’s very easy to allow it to slip it away.
“Just like when you get some negative momentum it can be hard to break. We’ve got to keep the positivity going and the only way we’ll do that is through hard work.
“We’ll prepare right inside and outside the club and hopefully we’ll have a group that have done that who can go down there and give a good account of themselves.”
“They’ve got a good mix of experienced players and players who’ve played at a higher level like Akinde, Nouble, Sears, Judge, Skuse, Chambers, these sorts of lads,” he added. “They’ve also got some young athletic players as well, particularly in the wide areas.
“I think it’s a really nice place to go, a lovely stadium, I went there with an England team playing against Germany, it was a sell-out and a brilliant atmosphere, and we won so I always have good memories of Colchester.
“Like I say, we have good away support and that’s brilliant for the players. The support we had at home last week was tremendous.
“I was talking to someone the other day who’s making the trip down, they said they’re leaving at about 6am. That’s incredible dedication to go and do that. It gives the players a lift.
“We’ve got to put on a performance that pleases them and attracts even more to our home game next week that will help the club move forward.
“We’ve got to make sure on grass we make it as easy as we can and work hard, like we did last weekend, play some real front-foot football when we’re out of possession, and when we’ve got the ball.
“If we do that I do believe we can cause them problems. We’ve got to be able to deal with the ability they’ve got in midfield and with those really experienced players who’ve been round the block.
“We’re going to have to be on our game against them. It’s a game I’m really looking forward to and I’m hoping it’s one where we can show what we’re all about.”
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