John McGreal is eager to see his Colchester United side maintain their momentum when they host Gillingham in the Checkatrade Trophy tonight.

The U’s play host to the League One strugglers in Southern Group B, aiming to build on two productive away performances.

Colchester have taken four points from a possible six in their last two League Two games, having beaten Yeovil Town and drawn with Grimsby Town.

Now they switch their attention to Checkatrade Trophy action but U’s head coach McGreal wants to see his players continue their improved form, at the Weston Homes Community Stadium (kick-off 7.45pm).

McGreal said: “It’s a cup game and it’s one that we want to win.

“We’ve got a few sore ones, because there’s been a lot of games.

“But we’ve got a little bit of momentum, even with the Wycombe result where we felt that we’d done enough to win the game.

“We want to continue that momentum and we’ll be looking to do that on Tuesday.

“The boys are in a good place and the point at Grimsby gave us a little bit of breathing space.”

McGreal is set to make changes to his starting line-up for tonight’s game, with Kurtis Guthrie hoping to be involved again after making his long-awaited comeback at Yeovil, last weekend.

The 24-year-old returned to the fray as a late substitute at Huish Park, after more than seven months out with an ankle injury.

“It was fantastic to bring Kurtis on and it’s been a long time for him,” said McGreal.

“He’s been out since February and we also had the likes of (Sanmi) Odelusi and (Nicke) Kabamba on the bench but I thought we’d get him on just to give us a lift and to get our crowd back on it again and it just seemed to give us that little bit of a lift.

“They were putting the ball in, in the last five or ten minutes.

“The ball just seemed to land at Kurtis for whatever reason and he’s just that type of player.

“I’m really pleased that he’s back in and around the first-team squad.”

McGreal must tonight decide whether to stick with the 4-4-2 formation that has resulted in a productive points return in the last two games or revert back to a more familiar 3-5-2 system.

The U’s boss, who has added youngster Will Wright to his squad for tonight's game, said: “We’ve adapted to the 4-4-2 but at a flick of the switch, we can change it to a three so it’s about players being adaptable to certain parts of the game.

“I like to mix things up a little bit and to make sure that people aren’t comfortable in their positions.

“I think the squad we have lends itself to doing that and it’s a case of players taking their opportunities, when they get them.”

Colchester lie second in the Group B table with two points heading into their clash with Gillingham, who are top after beating Southend United in their opening match.

Southend host Reading under-21s tonight, in the other match in the group.