COLCHESTER United boss John McGreal believes his players will reap the rewards of a typically-hectic pre-season.

The U's ramp up their preparations for the new League Two campaign with a home match against Championship new-boys Charlton Athletic tonight (kick-off 7.45pm).

The match comes four days after a heavy defeat against East Anglian neighbours Ipswich Town and four before the final warm-up fixture, at Dover Athletic on Saturday.

It's been a busy but productive spell and McGreal will be looking for more progress in tonight's clash with the Addicks - promoted via last season's League One play-offs.

“The games definitely help the new signings and that’s why we cram eight games into the pre-season schedule, to get the game time we need, especially when you bring in new players," he said.

“We’ve been impressed by what they can do but it’s only the start.

“It’s having the type of players who we’ve done a bit of research on who can come into our way of playing.

“We don’t want to change our way of playing and we have our own DNA.

“We definitely want to play how we’ve been playing of late and to do that we need that recruitment behind us and that’s been really important."

Tonight's match sees the return of striker Macauley Bonne to the Jobserve Community Stadium.

The 23-year-old progressed through the U's Academy and made his professional debut for the club in 2013.

He joined Leyton Orient in July 2017 and then signed for Charlton for an undisclosed fee in June.