John McGreal is hoping some welcome rest and recuperation will boost Colchester United’s chances of securing a crucial victory this weekend.

The U’s head coach gave his players some time off at the start of the week, following an intense period which has seen them play 12 games in February and March.

Colchester’s squad continues to be pushed to the limit as they push for a League Two play-off place, with a number of key players still sidelined.

But boss McGreal is keen for the period of time out they have enjoyed this week to benefit them at Notts County, on Saturday.

McGreal said: “It’s good to have a bit of respite, with no midweek game. That’s really helped us this week.

“It’s given us a chance to regroup and mix things up a bit, in terms of having more time to rest and recover.

“We’re putting sessions on knowing that we don’t really want to push the boys to the limit, because a lot of them have played a lot of games in a short space of time.

“We wanted to be more solid this season because as a club, if you want to achieve things, you have to have a solid base.

“(Luton manager) Nathan (Jones) said his team haven’t been taken apart like that all season.”

Colchester will be looking for their first away win of 2017, this weekend.

The U’s have the second-best home record in League Two but are without a victory in seven matches on the road and have not been ahead in any of those fixtures.

“We need to match our away results with our home ones,” added McGreal.

“Our second-half performance was very good at Crewe.

“Then it was the other way round at Grimsby.

“We came away from both games without a point and then only got a point at Cambridge, when we felt we deserved more.

“We’ve got to go into these last seven games with a full head of steam. We’ve got nothing to lose.”