Colchester United host Port Vale in League Two this weekend

And the U's interim head coach says their recent performances offer plenty of encouragement, heading into their home clash with Port Vale tomorrow.

Colchester are without a win in six matches and lie two points above the League Two relegation zone.

But they have been scoring goals and creating chances, something that fills Brown with belief that his side can get the results they need to stay up.

Brown said: “It’s going to be a tough game, as was Tuesday, as was last Saturday.

“At the end of the day, I’d be in a far worse frame of mind if we weren’t playing well.

"With the law of averages over a season, if you’re playing well you get wins.

"I’m sure that will be the case if we keep continuing to play well, building on performances and keep getting into good areas to score goals.

“They’re the sort of things that we need to keep drumming into the lads, keep showing them on the video, keep working on at the training ground, in our preparation.

“That’s the only way that we’re going to keep the lads in the right frame of mind, going into football matches.

“We’re approaching the game to try and win a game of football.

“That’s been our approach in the last ten games and it’ll be no different on Saturday."

Colchester face a Vale side who lie three points off the League Two play-off places.

Darrell Clarke's side are unbeaten in their last nine matches, ahead of the game at the JobServe Community Stadium.

“Port Vale are very high intensity and in your face," said Brown.

“They play at a real high tempo in their game and although they’ve had quite a few draws of late, they’re in that top end of the table for a reason.

“We’re under no illusions that it’ll be a tough game but it’s about what we do to them.

“We really do need to take the game to them being at home, first and foremost.

“But in the ten games that I’ve had here, whether it’s Mansfield, Salford, Leyton Orient or Swindon, we haven’t feared anyone."

Colchester played out a 2-2 draw with Leyton Orient, on Tuesday night.

The U's looked like they were heading for victory, after goals from Myles Kenlock and Owura Edwards had seen them come from behind to lead following Ruel Sotiriou’s opener.

But Ethan Coleman scored from close-range in the third minute of time added on, to deny Colchester a precious victory.

Brown added: “I was really pleased with the performance and the attitude of the lads.

“Without chucking loads of stats at it, we had 18 shots on goal and they had six and we still ended up drawing the game 2-2.

“The most disappointing thing was obviously the result which is the be all and end all – I get that but the lads aren’t far away.

“In any sport – not just football – the fewer mistakes that you make, the better chance you’ve got of being a success.

“That’s a given, if you like.

“We can’t worry or ponder on mistakes – they do need to be addressed.

“We preferably have to stop making mistakes, to give ourselves the best chance but at the moment, we’re getting punished for the mistakes.

“There’s been plenty of teams that we’ve played in the last ten games that have also made mistakes and have not been punished for them.

“You can say it’s bad luck but it’s not bad luck but we have got to eradicate the mistakes.

“But we need to concentrate on the positives.

“If we were playing poorly and we weren’t creating and we were drawing and we were losing games of football, there’s a big problem but that’s not the case.

“Again, yes the result is the be all and end all with the position that we find ourselves in.

“But I’m sure anyone at the game (against Leyton Orient) will have gone home in a positive frame of mind, in the way that we played and the way that we created and that’s what you’ve got to build on."