JOHN McGreal says taking on Manchester United tomorrow night will be a 'wonderful occasion' for his Colchester United players.

But the U's head coach is keen to ensure that his team give a 'good account of themselves' in the first club's first-ever visit to Old Trafford.

Colchester are preparing for one of the biggest games in the club's history, with a crowd of around 60,000 expected for the Carabao Cup quarter-final.

The U's have already eliminated Spurs and Crystal Palace from the tournament and McGreal wants a similar approach, against Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side.

McGreal said: “It’s a wonderful occasion for the players, the club and for the fans.

“They deserve it and it's a chance for them to go and enjoy themselves but you don’t want to be a rabbit in the headlights.

“You want to try and enjoy the occasion but you also want to give a good account of yourselves – that’s the big thing.

"They've worked ever so hard to get there and the Carabao Cup has had a knock-on effect on our league form.

“They’re the biggest club on the planet apart from Real Madrid, so they tell me.

“They reckon it could be potentially the biggest-ever attendance that the club has played in front of – it’s a huge game for the club and for the players.

“It’s a Wednesday game and it’s slap bang in the middle of a long journey to Scunny and then a tough home game against Carlisle.

“There’s three games in a space and there’s horrendous travelling, going to Manchester in midweek and then recovering again.

“To get a lot of those boys to play Saturday, then Wednesday and then Saturday – that’s when the squad will come into its own."

Colchester are expected to come up against a team packed full of international stars when they take on Manchester United.

The U's could face the likes of Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard and Harry Maguire tomorrow night - and boss McGreal says he doesn't want his players to think too much about who they might be facing.

"Man United are on the telly every other week and they have household names," said the U's boss.

"We don't want to give our players too much because you don't want to put the fear of God into them!

"Some of them wouldn't have played in a bigger game than the Tottenham one.

"Now, they're looking at the next game which is going to be potentially the biggest game in the club's history when you look at the attendance, the fact that it's a quarter-final and playing the second biggest club on the planet.

"It's huge not just for the younger boys but also the older ones, because they may not have played at Man United and some of them supported them and now they have the potential opportunity to play there and try and win a game of football, because that's what we're trying to do."