With more than 250 career appearances under his belt, the number of Football League grounds that Tom Eastman has plied his trade at during his Colchester United is now pretty vast.

And aside from the Weston Homes Community Stadium, there cannot be too many stadiums that have proved more fruitful for the defender over the years than Swindon Town’s County Ground.

Having made four career appearances at the venue, Eastman is yet to taste defeat there having experienced two wins and two draws in Wiltshire.

It has been a happy hunting ground for the reliable centre-back and Colchester, who have not lost there since 2010 - and the former Ipswich Town youngster is naturally hoping to extend that unbeaten record to five matches tonight.

Eastman said: “It’s a nice stat and hopefully, we can carry that on.

“It’s a nice pitch and stadium and there’s no reason why we can’t go there and do well again.

“We’re playing really well at the minute and we’re in good form.

“It’s going to be a tough game against Swindon, who are a really good team.

“It’s a difficult place to go but if we’re on our game, we can come away with the three points.

“We’re a confident squad at the moment and we’ve been picking up points both on the road and at home.

“As long as we keep doing that, we’ll be fine.

“Hopefully we can put a bit of pressure on the teams who are playing tomorrow.”

Colchester can move up to fifth in the League Two table with a win at Swindon tonight – but Eastman insists they should be striving for more.

“The play-offs are a minimum aim for us,” said the 26-year-old, who is currently Colchester’s longest-serving player.

“We have to be aiming higher than that and we’ll keep trying to climb the table as we go on through the season and hopefully come May, we’ll be up there and around it.

“In previous seasons that I’ve been here, we’ve been fighting against relegation in League One.

“We have to aim to get back there and it’s nice to be pushing at the right end of the table.

“It’s still a young squad but the boys have been growing in confidence.

“The younger boys like Frankie Kent and Tom Lapslie are showing more leadership now and the more games they’re playing, the better they’re getting.

“Sammie Szmodics is in great form – I wouldn’t say he gets too many chances but he’s very clinical at the minute with the ones he does get.

“He’s putting them away and it’s taking a lot of pressure off the defence.”

Eastman will be without his injured defensive partner Ryan Inniss tonight but he is confident they can cope.

He said: “Ryan has been a big player for us over the last few months, since he’s come into the team.

“He’s been doing well but if he’s out, then we’re going to have to make adjustments and play around it.

“Ryan has been a key to our defence but the whole team has been playing well so it’s important we keep that going.”

Eastman has flourished in a right-sided role over recent months, as part of Colchester’s three-man defence.

It is a position that has allowed him to regularly venture forward and lend support to the U’s attack and he says it is something he has enjoyed.

Eastman added: “I think I’ve been doing alright – I like to bomb down the right hand side quite a lot so I’m enjoying that and enjoying getting forward.

“I do like that and I feel that I’ve developed a good partnership with Ryan (Jackson) there.

“Strikers and wingers don’t want to always track back so it puts me in a nice position, on the right hand side.”