Is Colchester United’s home game with struggling Grimsby Town this Saturday their biggest of the season so far?

The standard football answer to the question is probably ‘yes, because it’s the next match’.

But the truth is that the U’s can ill-afford to slip up and suffer a third successive league defeat, something that has not happened under head coach John McGreal since November, 2016.

After all of last month’s award nominations and adulation, Colchester now seem to be suffering a dose of the January blues.

The U’s 3-1 loss at Wycombe Wanderers extended their disappointing start to 2018, where McGreal’s side have so far picked up just one point from a possible nine and have conceded seven times, scoring only twice after suffering rare back-to-back league defeats.

Their form so far this month is certainly a far cry from their impressive performances and results in December, where five unbeaten games yielded 11 points, lifted them into the play-off places and led to boss McGreal and leading scorer Sammie Szmodics being shortlisted for League Two monthly awards.

All of a sudden, there seem to be issues at both ends of the pitch where there previously were not, following the rarity of back-to-back league defeats.

After going more than five hours without conceding, Colchester have now shipped seven goals in their last two matches.

“It’s been too easy for teams to score against us,” admitted McGreal, following comprehensive defeats against Wycombe and prior to that, Cheltenham Town.

Not even the welcome return of defensive stalwarts Ryan Inniss and Luke Prosser to the back line could help Colchester against Adams Park.

Wycombe must have thought it was almost too good to be true when they were presented with not one but two chances on a plate by their old foes inside the opening quarter of last weekend’s contest.

McGreal was just as disappointed with his side’s blunt performance in attack, though.

As the U’s head coach said, they were presented with the kind of opportunities they were taking for fun, earlier in the season.

With 18 matches remaining, Colchester still have it all to play for.

They are still only three points adrift of the play-off places in a congested top half of the League Two table; a couple of good wins will put them right back in the mix.

This weekend's home clash against a Grimsby side who have just lost their last four league games could be pivotal for the U's.

Brandon Comley is in line to make his first appearances as a fully-fledged Colchester player against the Mariners, having turned his loan move from QPR into a permanent switch this morning.

Indeed, the remaining days of this month’s transfer window could prove crucial for the U's, not only with regard to possible additions to potentially boost their promotion hopes but also in dictating whether or not they still have Szmodics’ ample goal contribution to boost them, in the final run-in.