COLCHESTER United’s 3-3 draw at home to Forest Green Rovers was perhaps the biggest sign yet of the mindset that Danny Cowley is installing into the club, writes BEN MCCARTHY.

The U’s tepid first-half performance left them with a two-goal deficit at home to the division’s bottom side, before a goal each from Alistair Smith, Jayden Fevrier and Harry Anderson gave them the lead at one point.

But Forest Green equalised to claim a draw and Cowley was in no doubt that it was indeed two points dropped for the U’s, rather than one gained.

READ MORE: Danny Cowley will be sad to see Ross Embleton leave U's role

Cowley said: “I’m not looking down [at the gap to the relegation zone], I’m looking up and I want to get to 12th.

"To get to 12th, we have to beat Forest Green at home, that is just the reality.

"We can’t give teams head starts, we can’t play without aggression like we did in the first half and we can’t play as hesitantly as we did, in the first half period.”

Cowley acknowledges the ‘mess’ that he himself admitted the club are in with their league position.

Gazette:

But for the head coach to set his objectives upon a mid-table league finish by the end of April, rather than just fending off Forest Green and Sutton United who occupy the relegation zone, marks a refreshing chapter in Colchester’s recent history and a shift, amidst their fourth successive season near the foot of the League Two table.

It is also a mindset that seems to have at least tapped into the players.

The bedrock to Colchester’s month-long unbeaten run under Cowley has been their ability to fight back in games.

On three occasions they have come from behind, twice by two goals, to claim a draw.

READ MORE: Colchester United duo are named in League Two Team of the Week

But the Forest Green game was also the first time they had relinquished a lead during Cowley’s premiership and in response, he challenged his players to embrace the club’s ‘new beginnings’.

Cowley said: “This is the new Colchester United, these are new beginnings, and we find the third goal and we get into the lead, we find the fourth goal, and this is how we have to play.

"We have to play with that mentality and that focus, and this is so important or otherwise we just let the opposition off the hook.”