Colchester United head coach Danny Cowley admits life would be much easier if he had a magic wand.

But as they prepare to visit League Two rivals Barrow this weekend, he says they will keep fighting to turn things around.

"The only way you navigate through these difficult moments is by keep working," said Cowley.

"If I had a magic wand, which I absolutely wish I did, then life would be much easier. We don't have one, there's not one.

"The only way we know is to get on the training pitch, to keep working, to keep setting the players up to feel good physically, technically, tactically and we also support that with our off-field coaching.

"We don't feel sorry for ourselves, we're prepared to fight. We feel sorry for our supporters because they've had to endure this a lot longer than we all have.

"We're working tirelessly for ourselves and certainly for them."

U's have taken just three points from a possible 18 since beating Tranmere in late September, dropping to 21st in the table.

And having also bowed out of the FA Cup at the first hurdle at Swindon Town last weekend, Cowley recognises the tension in the stands.

"I feel for our supporters, it's human nature when the club has suffered like it has done in the last four or five seasons," he added.

"It's human nature to go to those past experiences and fear the worst. We understand this.

"The support at Swindon was incredible throughout the game and even at the end. We were all really disappointed to lose in extra time yet they were still there supporting us.

"Credit to them, that's what real support is. It's easy to support the team when it's going well. It's much harder to support the team when they're in a difficult moment.

"That's when you need the support to see the best in the players, to really get behind them."

U's are still to taste success on the road this season, but they have earned creditable draws at Accrington, Morecambe, Port Vale and Chesterfield.

And Cowley says they need to dig deep again at Barrow.

"We've had some really determined, resilient away performances," he said.

"We will certainly need those qualities again on Saturday. But we also want to try and keep moving forward offensively and with our attacking play.

"On the training pitch, we've worked towards it. I know the result didn't show it on Saturday but we were 1-0 up on 85 minutes and we'd had some good rhythm with the ball during the game.

"We continued to try and work on that this week. Our whole focus has been on trying to help the players individually and the team collectively.

"We know where we're at, we know what we've got to do to become a good team.

"I don't have a magic wand but it's something we're working tirelessly toward."