COLCHESTER United could record a fifth straight victory at Swindon Town this afternoon.

The last time the Essex club did that was back at the start of 2006 with a 3-2 home win over Bristol City. Phil Parkinson’s side then went on to turn that into a 10-game winning streak, a run which set them on the way to promotion to the second tier of English football for the first time in the club’s history.

And U’s boss John Ward – whose side are already eight points better off than Parkinson’s were after 15 league games in 2005/06 – knows all too well the importance of maintaining momentum once it comes your way.

He said: “You look at the league table and we are in a good position (third), but it doesn’t take much to drop away into mid-table and a bit of obscurity.

“It’s therefore very important that the high side of our game that we have shown in recent weeks returns for this match.

“As far as I’m concerned we are already on a run – we’ve only lost one in 16 – and it would be nice to continue that as long as possible.”

Following their fifth-place finish, Swindon narrowly missed out on promotion last season with a 1-0 defeat to Millwall in the play-off final at Wembley.

The Robins appear to have been weakened by the summer departures of 29-goal striker Billy Paynter to Leeds and key defender Gordon Greer to Brighton though and currently find themselves down in 17th and nine-points adrift of the U’s in third.

Danny Wilson’s side are currently scoring and conceding goals at an equally rapid rate – 14 both for and against over the last six games – although they have only emerged victorious on one of those occasions.

In contrast, while Colchester have also seen goals flying in at both ends – scoring 11 and conceding seven over their last four games – they have won all of those matches by a single goal.

The U’s will hand late fitness tests to defender Magnus Okuonghae (ankle) and midfielder Ian Henderson (knee) today, while left-back Tom Williams (groin) and Kemi Izzet (shin) both look to have shaken off knocks.

Swindon have been playing 4-4-2 all season, but could switch to a 4-5-1 today to accommodate absent and returning personnel. Striker Vincent Pericard limped out of Tuesday night’s home defeat to Brentford in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy – a match Swindon lost on penalties following a 1-1 draw – but centre midfielder and captain Jonathan Douglas is set to return after a broken toe.

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