Colchester United’s injury-prone midfielder, Doug Loft, insists that the U’s have to be “more ruthless” in both boxes, heading into tonight’s away fixture at mid-table Grimsby Town.

Loft made a surprise return to the team for Saturday’s 2-1 home defeat to Wycombe Wanderers, and he came through 80 minutes of that high-tempo encounter despite tweaking his hamstring midway through the first half.

Despite this latest injury setback, Loft is confident of being fit to keep his place for tonight’s League Two test at Blundell Park, as the U’s search for that elusive first away win, and in fact first away point, of the season.

So far, the U’s have lost all four of their away games this season, at Accrington Stanley, Cambridge, Luton and Cheltenham, but Loft is looking for six points from the Essex club’s trips to Grimsby and Yeovil (on Saturday) this week.

“We want to show we can win away from home. People say we can’t win, but I think we can and I think we will,” insisted Loft.

“We have two away games coming up, and I’m confident we can get all six points.

“I’ll take playing badly and getting three points on Tuesday, having previously played well for no reward.

”We have to be more ruthless in their box, and better in ours.

“We gave away silly free-kicks (against Wycombe), and we have to be more ruthless with taking our chances at the other end. We had six or seven good opportunities on Saturday, and their keeper (Scott Brown) played a blinder. He made some good saves.”

With regards his own fitness – Saturday was only his fourth league start since his move from Gillingham in the summer of 2016 – Loft said: “It’s frustrating being on the sidelines, but I am the most confident player there is.

“It was good to be back in the team, but a shame we didn’t get the three points. We were disappointed, but we go again on Tuesday.

“My return was a little bit unexpected. I had only trained for a week but felt good. I surprised myself with how well I did. I was delighted to get back.

“My hamstring was a little bit tight. That happened in the 20th minute and I played through that. I’m confident that I will be OK for Grimsby.”