Colchester United, bang in form and third in the table, will be hoping to continue where they left off against Crewe on Tuesday evening, when they entertain early strugglers Northampton Town today.
The U’s thumped the Railwaymen 6-0 on home turf, and while it will be difficult to replicate that sort of ruthless streak against the Cobblers, they will start as warm favourites to cement their top-three place with another home win.
To date, the U’s have won both their home games, and just as impressively drawn their two away encounters at two of the fancied teams in the division, Notts County (despite their dreadful start) and Mansfield.
No wonder there is an air of optimism surrounding the Jobserve Community Stadium.
Their eight-point haul from the first four games equals their eight-point tally from the first four games of 2013-14.
And it actually represents their best outright start for nine years, harking back to when they won their first three games at the start of the 2009-10 campaign, with that famous opening day 7-1 win at Norwich City.
“The big thing for me is that performances have been excellent. We have our standards and our habits, and we want to keep them up” explained boss John McGreal.
“The continuity in the group from early in pre-season has been pivotal to this. We got our business done early, which helped.
“We spoke about Northampton straight away, after the win over Crewe.
“It’s tough to get good wins at this level, so it’s important to enjoy them when they come around, but all our focus has since been on Northampton.
“They are a big club in this division, having got relegated last season, with top players in the team.
“Although it was a great night, Tuesday’s game only brought us three points. Now we have to try and put in an equally hard-working performance this weekend.”
The U’s have already had seven different goalscorers this season, an impressive figure – Brennan Dickenson, Ryan Jackson, Sammie Szmodics and Luke Norris all lead the way with two goals (in all competitions).
“That’s been excellent, because last season we relied too much on Sammie Szmodics (13) and Mikael Mandron (10),” confirmed McGreal.
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