Colchester United boss, John McGreal, insists that his players “still have points to prove” going into today’s attractive home fixture against league leaders Luton Town.

The U’s are rank outsiders to make the top seven, sitting eight points adrift of the play-offs with just seven matches remaining.

But they are still in with a shout, mathematically, and they also have top four sides Luton, Accrington Stanley and Notts County all visiting the Weston Homes Community Stadium over the closing weeks.

The U’s disappointed in their previous two home games, slithering to 1-0 defeats at the hands of bottom club Barnet and lowly Yeovil, but returned to form with a goalless draw at Morecambe and a 1-0 win at Stevenage last weekend.

“We have still got points to prove, and we have still got points to get,” insisted McGreal.

“This is a fantastic game for us.

“It was good to play a couple of games away from home, and to get four points out of six.

“We know that we have to improve on our last two home performances, and there’s no better stage to do this than to pit out wits against the league leaders.

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“In our last home game, the penalty miss (Sammie Szmodics’ early spot kick against Yeovil) was obviously a big moment in the game, and it was best then to get away for a couple of games.

“But we are now back to where we want to be. We want the points, and Luton need the win, so it should be a good game.

“We still have three of the top four teams to play at home, and there’s no better way to start than against Luton.

“If you cannot get up for this game, then what game can you get up for? Luton fans will definitely be fully loaded – they have a terrific backing – but when our home fans are on form, this is a tough place to come and play.

“However, we have to get them (the fans) out of the box and implement our style of play, to rub off on other people.

“We have seven games left, so there’s still a lot of points to play for. As I have said before, the play-offs are now a bit distant, but we have still set our little challenges and targets inhouse, which we want to try and hit,” added McGreal