Chesterfield are going to have to find the away form that they showed earlier in the season if they are to get a positive result at Colchester United.

The Spireites have lost three on the bounce ahead of the long trip to Essex on Tuesday night. Their performance in the 3-1 defeat to Crewe on Saturday was littered with errors and while they had 18 shots, only three were on target.

Earlier in the campaign Chesterfield hit five goals away at Crewe and Morecambe as well as impressive 3-0 wins at Doncaster Rovers and Newport County. But the Blues’ last victory on their travels came two-and-a-half months ago at Carlisle United in the middle of December. Since then they have failed to take three points in their last six on the road, losing five, including all of the last three.

Performances at Fleetwood Town and Bradford City were admirable because of the stretched squad due to injuries and a point gained at Grimsby Town looks a good result now. They should have come away with a 0-0 at Cheltenham, they led at half-time against league leaders Walsall but threw it away from corners in the second-half, and then there was the narrow defeat at Swindon which was overshadowed by the serious injury to Tyrone Williams. In order to get back to winning ways they must cut out the mistakes, stop conceding from corners, eradicate their soft underbelly and regain their attacking spark. They have got to go back to basics and become harder to beat.

Chesterfield lost 3-1 at home to Crewe on Saturday.

placeholder image — Chesterfield lost 3-1 at home to Crewe on Saturday.

Next up is a trip to a Colchester side who are unbeaten in nine, a record which has seen them jump into the top half of the table and nine points off the play-offs. The U’s have won six, drawn six and lost four on home soil. They are unbeaten in their last three on their own turf, which included a win against table-topping Walsall.

Danny Cowley’s men, who scraped a 1-1 draw in Derbyshire back in October, don’t score many goals, with their total of 38 only better than the bottom seven sides, but they have the joint third best defence in the league. Colchester have the second most clean sheets with 14, behind Wimbledon’s 17. Chesterfield have managed just eight.

Paul Cook is keen to have consistency in his team selections between now and the end of the season, having only been able to name a unchanged line-up three times this season, mainly due to injuries, and he is likely to have make at least one more swap on Tuesday night with defender Janoi Donacien having picked up a knee problem on Saturday.