COLCHESTER United head coach John McGreal hopes his players are rewarded for another positive performance on their travels tomorrow.

The U’s have only won four games away from home all season – only Yeovil Town have managed less in League Two – and are without a victory on the road since a 4-2 success at Sevenage on New Year’s Eve.

However, McGreal insists he is far from downbeat about the situation and has been encouraged by several positive performances.

He points at the recent displays at Grimsby Town and Cambridge United – neither of which resulted in a win – and hopes his players get their just rewards at Crewe Alexandra tomorrow.

“Every point is going to be important – home and away,” he said.

“Our away form has been a bit more indifferent and we’re talking about that because we’ve got an away match.

“But our home form has been off the scale and we don’t tend to speak about that.

“I’m not too down about it because some of our away performances have been really good, like Grimsby and Cambridge.

“I’m not despondent but we could have come away with a couple of wins.

“We’ll keep being positive and trying to mix things up, to try and get that win away from home.

“If it comes tomorrow then brilliant.”

McGreal says his approach is the same for every game – regardless of whether it is a home or away fixture.

And at this stage of the season, he says the significance of points far outweighs performance.

The play-off chasing U’s are ninth in League Two – three points behind seventh-placed Exeter City.

“We try to win every game and have done since I took over,” said the former defender, whose side saw off Mansfield Town 2-0 on Tuesday.

“I wanted the club to get back to winning games of football, because we haven’t done that on a consistent basis in years gone by.

“Nothing changes, whether we’re home or away.

“But it’s all about consistency at this stage of the season and trying to win games of football.

“I’d love to be making 500 passes a game and winning three or 4-0. But at this time of year the points are vital – whether it’s points to get into the top seven or points to get away from relegation.”

“Any team around us would say the same thing.

“Crewe play football the right way and promote from within. They’ve got that philosophy.

“They’ve got a new manager who’s come in to try and get wins, to get them away from the relegation places.

“They’ve won a couple of games away from home lately, so it’s going to be a tough game.

“But it’s up to us to go there and put in a performance to make sure we get the points.”