COLCHESTER United are about to embark on a gruelling run of games.

And boss Danny Cowley wants his whole squad to battle it out for a place in his starting line-up.

The U’s head to Fleetwood Town tomorrow, with the League Two clash the first of ten in the space of 36 days for the club.

Colchester are scheduled to play seven games in December and head coach Cowley says they will need everyone firing on all cylinders.

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Cowley said: “It’s always good when the whole squad are putting their hand up.

“It feels like now we’ve got a lot in good form and finding some rhythm.

“When that happens, it gives you decisions to make and this is always good.

“We now have ten games in 36 days, so we have lots of football coming up.

“We’re going to need everybody fit, everybody healthy and everybody fighting for their place.”

(Image: RICHARD BLAXALL)

Colchester have recently welcomed back trio Samson Tovide, Owura Edwards and Teddy Bishop to their squad, following injury lay-offs.

“We’re four unbeaten now and starting to find some good rhythm,” continued Cowley.

“I think we’ve made some really good progress in recent weeks.

“We’ve got some boys who have been finding some good form.

“The boys are in good spirits on the back of going four unbeaten and it feels like we’re growing.

“For us, we had a period where we hadn’t won enough games and that was frustrating, because I think there were games which we had control in, that we probably drew that we should have won.

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“We had a period where we lost some pace and power and athleticism from the team and sold Brad (Ihionvien) on deadline day and it took a lot of the same qualities out of the team, which affected our balance really.

“We knew we had to come through that period and now that we have and we’ve got the likes of Samson and Owura back, I think it’s given everybody a lift.

“We’ve also had more continuity over team selection and system and that can help the consistency of the players.”

(Image: RICHARD BLAXALL)

Colchester will check on the fitness of experienced duo Tom Flanagan and Tom Hopper ahead of their game at Fleetwood tomorrow.

Skipper Flanagan and striker Tom Hopper missed their 1-0 win at Grimsby Town last weekend, due to hip and groin issues respectively.

“We’re hopeful that both will be fit,” added Cowley.

“Flan is probably just slightly ahead of Tom Hopper.

“We’ll give them as much time as we can.

“Both have been on the grass (on Thursday) and Tom Flanagan trained, so we’re hopeful they’ll be fit.”