AIDY Boothroyd believes his current 'six game cycle' could go some way to determining whether his side gain promotion this season.The Colchester United boss has revealed that he views the fixture list six games at a time - assigning a target amount of points at the beginning of each new cycle.

By Stuart Watson

AIDY Boothroyd believes his current 'six game cycle' could go some way to determining whether his side gain promotion this season.

The Colchester United boss has revealed that he views the fixture list six games at a time - assigning a target amount of points at the beginning of each new cycle.

Following disappointing draws against Exeter and Oldham, the U's - currently third in League One - have kick-started a new cycle with wins over Stockport in the league and Hereford in the FA Cup.

The cycle concludes with a trip to 18th place Brentford tonight, followed by games against Bristol Rovers (H), Brighton (A) and Carlisle (H).

Those quartet of matches all fall within the 'winnable' bracket and could prove vital in the context of the season, especially as the U's then face tricky matches against MK Dons, Norwich and Leeds soon after Christmas.

“The next period of games is important,” admitted Boothroyd. “The Stockports, Exeters, Herefords and Wycombes - they are the most important games for me because they are the ones we are expected to win.

“The big games - the Leeds, Charltons and Huddersfields - they take care of themselves, you don't have to get up for those games.

“The league is so tight that it means that it will be the most consistent team that will run away.”

Colchester travel to Griffin Park tonight to face a newly-promoted Bees side who have struggled on their return to step three of English football.

After claiming the League Two title in his first full season in charge, manager Andy Scott purged his squad of unwanted players in the summer. The 37-year-old - who made over 150 appearances as a player for the west London club - released nine players and has replaced them with 12 free transfers and loan signings.

Right-winger John Bostock (Tottenham), Polish keeper Wojciech Szczesny (Arsenal), former Ipswich keeper Lewis Price (Derby), defender Pim Balkestein (Ipswich) and striker Rhys Murphy (Arsenal) have all been brought in on temporary deals after the club's poor start to the season.

Brentford have won just four league games all season though and currently hover just three points above the drop zone. The club did manager a narrow 1-0 win over Walsall in the FA Cup on Saturday, but manager Scott has threatened to wield the axe in January in a bid to clear out his underperformers.

He said: “The lads have got five weeks to show me that they want to be here and deserve to be here. We're not where we want to be in the league.

“We have to accept that I've made mistakes in recruiting players and some players who have come in have not performed to the level that I and they hoped they would.

“It has taken a while to bed things in but the players that we need to improve in this league we need to get into the football club, and if people need to leave to do that then they will.”