Colchester United will break an unwanted club record, if they lose at fellow strugglers Oldham Athletic tomorrow.

The U’s have suffered nine league defeats on the trot, the ninth loss, at Gillingham (1-0) on Monday, equalling the club record set just three years ago.

So a 10th league defeat, at Boundary Park, would represent the worst losing run, outright, in the U’s history.

It was between November, 2012, and January, 2013, when Joe Dunne’s men endured a nine-game losing streak.

A 2-0 home win over Bury, on November 17, 2012, had seen the U’s well-placed in 13th spot, but 63 days later, after a 2-1 home defeat at the hands of Scunthorpe, Dunne’s side had sunk into the bottom four without a single point from a possible 27.

That miserable losing run eclipsed the previous club record of eight straight league losses, set in 1954 when the U’s were plying their trade in Division Three South

Chairman and owner, Robbie Cowling, spoke out in support of Dunne, after that ninth league reverse against Scunthorpe, almost three years ago.

It’s a different set of circumstances, this time around however, with the U’s already having changed their manager following previous boss Tony Humes’ decision to stand down on November 26.

Since then, the U’s have lost five league games, from five, the one ray of hope coming with an FA Cup second round triumph over non-league Altrincham, although that was only secured via an injury-time winner in a 3-2 victory.

New full-time boss, Keen, has presided over the last couple of defeats, a 2-0 loss to Southend United in the Essex derby on Boxing Day, and most recently a narrow defeat at Gillingham.

Despite the continued poor results, the U’s, bottom of League One, have looked more solid as defensive unit over the last week.

“I hope the Colchester fans have seen an improvement, and I hope they’ve seen a team playing with a lot of effort, skill and determination for the club,” said Keen.

“I don’t think we deserved either defeat really, and I think our two strikers (Chris Porter and Marvin Sordell) will be a handful for any team in this league.”