COLCHESTER United skipper Luke Prosser has issued a rallying cry ahead of their trip to Port Vale this weekend.

The U’s were brought back down to earth after slumping to a 3-2 home defeat at the hands of Grimsby Town on Tuesday night – three days after producing an outstanding display to see off Plymouth Argyle.

John McGreal’s side head to Vale Park aiming to bounce back after suffering a second defeat in three games, in League Two.

And Prosser admits that the fifth-placed U’s – who lie a point above Vale in the table – must produce the goods against his former club, this weekend.

Prosser, who is set to make his 100th league appearance for the U's on Saturday, said: “It’s another wake-up call.

“We’ve now got two big away games coming up and as disappointed as we are, in a few days there’s another game so hopefully, we can put it right.

“Port Vale are doing very well at the moment and are right behind us in the league, so we’ve got to turn up – no excuses.

“We’ve not got long to dwell on it, that’s the good thing I suppose.

“Port Vale are in form and it’s going to be an extremely hard game but we have to go there and approach the game how we were in our run and try and pick up three points, if possible.

“There’s still a lot of football to be played and we have to keep going.”

Colchester suffered their first home league loss since October, after surrendering the lead twice to lose to Grimsby.

Prosser and Theo Robinson both scored for the U’s but Charles Vernam’s hat-trick inflicted a damaging defeat on the hosts.

“It was extremely disappointing,” said Prosser, who scored his third goal of the season against Grimsby.

“This is where we were a couple of weeks ago; after the performance against Swindon, we didn’t back it up and we had a fantastic performance against Plymouth and it was the same again.

“We’re all banging our heads (in the changing room) because if we knew the reason why, we wouldn’t be where we are in the league.

“We can’t play well against the top teams and not play well against teams in the bottom half of the table.

“It was really disappointing to be ahead twice and still lose and as a defender, you don’t like conceding.

“All three of the goals could probably have been kept out but full credit to them – I thought they played well.

“They were better than us and they probably got what they deserved.”