Boro midfielder Jimmy Smith feels that the team will be too much for Colchester to handle on Saturday, if they play to their potential.

Stevenage face their biggest game of the season this weekend, with the club currently sitting bottom of the Sky Bet League One table, but just four points behind The U’s in 18th place, and Smith is confident that the team will bounce back from last week’s defeat at Shrewsbury.

“I think every game’s going to be big now, looking at it for this game, the three points has to be ours,” said the 27-year-old.

“I think they’re on 43 [points] and we’ve got to make sure that we’re one point behind them come Saturday evening.

“The gaffer has said it’s a must win game and we feel it is; we’ve got to do everything we can to make sure we get that win.

“We know that if we do our jobs right, play the way we we’re good at, I think they won’t be able to handle us.”

Colchester will come into the game off the back of four straight losses, a run which has seen them slip into the relegation dogfight, and Smith is confident that Boro can extend that run.

“We look at the form guide, we’ve watched videos about them but I think the most important thing is that we all need to turn up. The whole squad, not just the 11 but the subs that are coming on as well, then I think that we’ll be too much, but like I said we all have to turn up and make sure we put it on them and give them nothing,” he said.

The defeat at fellow strugglers Shrewsbury last week came as a big blow to Boro’s survival prospects, cranking up the pressure on this weekend’s game, and Smith knows the team must do better if they are to take the three points.

“We know it wasn’t good enough.

“The gaffer drummed it into us after the game, there were a lot of words spoken but we need to just forget about [the result] now and on Saturday we’ve got to make sure we get the three points.”