The U's make the trip up north to Greater Manchester to take on Salford City this weekend for their first game of the New Year after last weekend's late call off against Tranmere Rovers.
Steve Ball's side will travel to the Peninsula Stadium to take on Richie Wellens' Salford City, a team that the U's have found success against in the past.
In fact, they have only found success - in the only two meetings between the teams, Colchester United have won both. A tight and cagey affair was won in stoppage time by a Harry Pell header at the JobServe Community Stadium, while Kwame Poku and Callum Harriott's goals on Salford's own turf was enough in February 2020 for all three points.
Once again, Salford City are one of the teams hotly tipped for promotion, but they haven't been able to put themselves in the strongest position as the season reaches its halfway pont.
Currently sitting in eighth position, they are outside the play-off places trailing seventh-placed Morecambe by a point, and have played a game more than the Shrimpers. Not in the best run of form, Salford have lost their last two consecutive games, with defeats to Leyton Orient and Mansfield Town on the road.
But despite their current form, U's head coach Steve Ball is taking nothing lightly as the U's prepare for their trip up north.
"It goes without saying that they are a good side. They have a big squad with some big backing and they are a team that are strongly fancied." - Steve Ball
"They've got a manager there that has got promotion pedigree, so they've gone for that angle. We know it will be a tough game, but it's one that we are looking forward to.
"The biggest thing for us this week was to have a full week's training. It's been so different, it's been so good after having a whirlwind of games for the past few weeks and to get a solid week of training in, it just feels really good. We feel really prepared this week.
"I feel like a coach this week, we have stripped it right back into fine detail and gone back to the basics and it has been a really productive week on that front."
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