Colchester United captain Connor Hall on relegation battle

The U’s are preparing for a vital home clash with Doncaster Rovers tonight, as they look to pull away from the League Two relegation mire.

Colchester lie just two points above the drop zone with 11 games remaining and skipper Hall has stressed that none of the club’s players want to suffer the heartache of relegation.

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Hall said: “You’ve got to stay together – the worst thing that can happen is if you don’t do that.

“We’ve got a good group and we’ll stick together.

“We’ve got a fighter’s chance, it’s in our hands and we’ve got to keep fighting every day, to get to the end goal.

“We survived last season but it still wasn’t great and this season has been a really tough season for all of us.

“Every day, we’re coming in fighting and we’re staying positive.

“We’re around each other, we’re trying to encourage each other, we’re trying to work hard.

“None of us want to get relegated.

“Not one player in that dressing room wants to go home to his family and tell them ‘we lost again’.

“When I get home and my little girl says ‘you lost again, Daddy’ – do you really think I’m proud of that?

“I’m fighting, the lads are fighting and we’ve just got to keep going.

“We’ve got however many games left and we’ve got to pick up more points than the other two teams below us.”

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Colchester’s clash with Doncaster tonight is the first of two successive home games for the club.

Of their remaining 11 games this season, seven take place at the JobServe Community Stadium and defender Hall says the supporters can play their part.

“The fans are going to be massive for us,” said the former Port Vale centre-back.

“The next two games are really, really important and we have to get goals and points.

“Every game is massive for us and it has been for the last few weeks and even more so now.

“We all know that – we’ve known that for a few weeks.

“We are still performing better than our opponents, for long periods of games and we’ve just got to turn that into goals.”

Colchester were dragged closer to the bottom two last weekend when they lost 2-0 at play-off chasing Barrow.

Goals in the closing stages of each half from Kian Spence and substitute Sam Foley inflicted defeat on Danny Cowley’s side.

Hall added: “That’s what it’s like when you’re down there.

“Things don’t go your way but you make your own luck.

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“It’s a game that we feel we dominated and they didn’t have any shots, other than the free-kick and then the second goal, when we were obviously going for it trying to get an equaliser.

“They got a goal on the break and that happens but equally, us going forward we haven’t really looked a threat and it’s been like that for a couple of weeks now.

“I feel like that’s the main thing – and the only thing – missing from our performance and producing wins.”