Colchester United manager John Ward has backed his attackers to bounce back after they fired blanks at Stevenage.

The U's struggled to seriously test Boro' goalkeeper Chris Day, in their 0-0 draw at Broadhall Way last night.

Ward said: “My goalscorers will be back firing - they’ll be OK.

“We didn’t worry their goalkeeper enough and that’s the frustration.

“We had a lot of the ball in the second period and got into the last 30 yards without worrying their goalkeeper, which is unlike us.

“I’ve got people like Odejayi, Gillespie, Wordsworth and Henderson on the pitch and we put Sears and Massey.

“We had a really good go at it but we weren’t able to find a winner.

"But we’ve worked hard on our shape and our defending and it’s paid off in a lot of the recent games.

“We’ve only had one defeat in 11 and we’ve been very strong as a team."

Meanwhile, boss Ward has urged the U's fans to mantain their excellent support for the team.

Colchester were cheered on by a vocal away following at Stevenage and Ward wants more of the same when his side host his former club Carlisle United, on Saturday.

He added: “The supporters stayed with us at Stevenage and they know that they’re watching a good team who are evolving.

“We’ll continue to try our very best for the supporters.

“We’ll see if we can get the crowd behind us again on Saturday like they have been and see if we can win a game."

For all of the latest Colchester United news, see the Gazette.