COLCHESTER United head coach John McGreal wants his side to make their mark when they host Salford City tomorrow – and make the JobServe Community Stadium a difficult venue for their opponents.

The U’s are back in League Two action for the first time in a fortnight weekend when they take on the Ammies, in the first-ever meeting between the two clubs.

Colchester, who are currently four points adrift of the top seven, lie just two points – and two places – above Salford in the table.

And boss McGreal has stressed the need for his team to make their home venue a tough place for visiting sides to play.

McGreal said: “We need to put our own stamp, our own mark and our own DNA on the game.

“Salford have a good experienced team and good players throughout the team.

“They have good threats throughout the team especially the front line so we’ll have to be on our mettle.

“They’re coming to a place where they’ve never been before and we don’t want it to be a nice stadium for clubs to come and play.

“Graham has done a terrific job there.

“He’s an experienced manager from divisions above never mind going into division two.

“It’s probably taken a little bit of adjusting for his team to come up.

“They got a great promotion last year and although they didn’t start off the best, they’ve shown of late what their worth is.

“Reading from reports, they’re not going to stop pushing on and that’s why they’ve recruited the manager they have to drop a couple of divisions and go into the non-league and then try and go through the divisions and go as high as they can.

“They’ve taken a little bit of time to adjust but now they know the level and what it’s about.

“It’s a tight division and we need to be ready for this game and take the game from minute one really.”

Ben Stevenson is expected to return to Colchester’s squad for the game against Salford.

The midfielder has missed their last two games with a back problem but has trained with the rest of the U’s squad, this week.

McGreal said: “It’s been more of a precaution with Ben with the back injury that he’s had.

“He’s been seeing a chiropractor, so he’s been able to come back into training.”

Leading scorer Luke Norris is available again after missing the Leasing.com Trophy defeat against Stevenage in midweek due to suspension.

But right-back Ryan Jackson is a doubt with a foot injury and Paris Cowan-Hall (Achilles) is still sidelined.