COLCHESTER United will be gunning for three wins on the bounce and a hat-trick of clean-sheets, against struggling Yeovil Town this afternoon.

COLCHESTER United will be gunning for three wins on the bounce and a hat-trick of clean-sheets, against struggling Yeovil Town this afternoon.

But manager John Ward admits that it would need a huge effort from his squad to break into the top six this season.

The U’s have emerged from a tough start to the campaign, during which they played four of the top six teams, to rise into the top half of the table.

Ward insists that it will take a big effort to dislodge any of the current top six, who all look promotion contenders, but his side are up to 11th and just four points adrift of that play-off zone.

Another three points today, following on from the wins over Leyton Orient and at Chesterfield, would make further inroads into that gap.

“If you look at the top six at the moment, you are going to be hard pushed to find an argument that they won’t be the top six at the end of the season,” said Ward.

“They are the six biggest clubs in the league for different reasons, players, staff-wise and attendances.

“So the rest of us are chasing that dream of trying to dispose one of those six clubs. There’s no way I’m going to tell my players we are going to try and finish eighth this year. We want to work higher than that,” added Ward.

The U’s welcome back midfielder John-Joe O’Toole after a three-match suspension, although the best he can really hope for is a place on the bench.

Keeper Mark Cousins is still nursing a sore shoulder, while winger Ashley Vincent remains on the comeback trail after a knee injury.