Luke Norris is targeting the top three as Colchester United entertain his former club, Swindon Town, at the Jobserve Community Stadium tomorrow afternoon.
Luke Norris is targeting the top three as Colchester United entertain his former club, Swindon Town, at the Jobserve Community Stadium tomorrow afternoon.
The U’s made it six wins out of eight home league starts, by toppling league leaders Lincoln City 1-0 last weekend.
John McGreal’s men have moved up to fifth spot, and are now only one point adrift of third-placed Exeter City, who currently occupy the third and final automatic promotion slot.
A win for the U’s, over the Robins tomorrow, combined with Exeter (away at Tranmere) and fourth-placed Newport (away at Carlisle) both failing to win, would see the Essex club bursting into the top three.
“We want to keep it going,” continued Norris, who moved from Swindon over the summer on a three-year deal, for an undisclosed fee.
“We want more of the same, and we need to follow up last Saturday’s big result over Lincoln with another good result.
“We hadn’t beaten any of the top teams, before last weekend, so it was an important win for us. It was a big occasion, and a heated game at times, but we nullified their attack.
“It was a tight game, and there wasn’t that much in it, but I thought we deserved to win.
“Keeping a clean-sheet is so important, because we are a team that always has goals in us. We can score goals from all over the pitch, so if we can keep a clean-sheet then we will almost certainly get the three points.
“The top three is our main target, and I think we have a really good chance of getting into that position.
“Over time, the points gap between teams will start to get bigger and bigger, so we want to make sure that we are up there,” added Norris.
Goal poacher Norris, a product of Brentford’s Academy, has already plundered eight goals in 16 first-team appearances for his new club Colchester, and seven in 14 league outings.
The 25-year-old has not looked back, since his switch from the County Ground, despite being hampered by injury during the first few weeks of the campaign.
And naturally he is looking forward to the visit of his old club Swindon, who last weekend ended a lean spell of seven games without victory, by winning 2-1 at Notts County.
“I did have some good times at Swindon,” explained Norris.
“My first year there was a bad year, because we got relegated. There was stuff going on behind the scenes that held us back.
“But last season was a good one for me. I scored 14 goals (in 38 matches) in what ended up being an injury-plagued season, so that wasn’t bad.
“However, we should have achieved lot more than what we managed.
“I had an ongoing shoulder injury towards the end of last year, but that’s now been all sorted and I am reaping the rewards.
“Swindon had the option of taking up a third year, on my contract, which they did.
“I had struggled to play, at the end of last season, because of my shoulder, and I didn’t really know where I was going to be, going forward.
“But I thought it was about time for a change, in terms of moving to Colchester over the summer.
“The opportunity came along for a move, and I’m pleased that I made the decision because I think we have a very good chance of achieving something this season.
“We are high up in the league, and personally I have scored a lot of goals.
“I think we (Colchester) have a really good chance of beating them this weekend, because they’ve been a bit hit-and-miss and have struggled for form.”
U’s boss John McGreal has no new injuries, ahead of the visit of 13th-placed Swindon.
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