Colchester United’s winning streak has coincided with Ben Stevenson returning to the starting line-up.

A run of five games without a victory had seen the U’s slide out of the League Two play-off picture, from mid-February through to mid-March, with Stevenson himself employed as a substitute.

But the 21-year-old’s recall to the starting XI, away at Stevenage, has had a positive effect with the U’s following up the 1-0 victory at Broadhall Way with a 2-1 home victory over Luton on Good Friday, and then a 2-1 win at Forest Green Rovers on Monday.

Stevenson capped a fine performance by scoring what proved to be the only goal of the game, via his 20-yard strike just 85 seconds into the second half at The New Lawn.

“I’ve been back in the side these last three games, but I think everyone has stepped up in these last three fixtures,” insisted Stevenson.

“We are getting more and more confident, having done a lot of travelling over the last few weeks.

“Now we are going into every game thinking we can win it.

“It’s a great time to have this momentum and we now go into the last five games looking to win them all. We had a few bad results before the time I came in, at the start of February, but we reacted to that bad run quite well.

“And credit to the fans that travelled (to Forest Green). They kept us going right until the end of the match, helping us go into every challenge.”

Referring to his winning goal at Forest Green, his second in nine appearances for the U’s since his loan switch from Wolves, Stevenson said: “I took a touch and I had a bit more space than I thought.

“The goal seemed to get closer and closer, and I thought I should just have a shot from here.

“As soon as I hit it, I thought – ‘Oh no, its not going in’ – but it sort of came back inside and went right into the bottom corner.

“The goals have been coming in the last week. Both the centre-backs (Tom Eastman and Luke Prosser) scored against Luton, and it was about time that other attacking players got in on the act, so Drey (Wright) and me scoring was good.”

Four points adrift of the play-offs, the U’s entertain leaders Accrington Stanley on Saturday.