TRANMERE Rovers are back on the road this weekend for an away clash against Colchester United.

Nigel Adkins' side sit 14th in the League Two but last week's 3-0 defeat at Gillingham was their first in the league this season and the manager saw plenty in the performance to be pleased with.

Adkins said: "A scoreline is a scoreline but it was very frustrating for us because we did many things very well. I'm still disappointed that we didn't win the game but the fact of the matter is we didn't.

"But it was a good debrief on the Monday and we've learnt the lessons from it as we always do and we'll draw a line underneath and get ready for the next game."

Adkins was impressed with his side's work rate in Kent and believes it bodes well for the long trip to Essex. 

"We worked far harder in the Gillingham game than we did in the precious game against Carlisle which we won so I know that they are grafting," he said. 

"There were one or two situations that emerged that resulted in the scoreline but we competed really well and controlled the game for large spells."

Adkins was also confident that the defeat would not adversely affect the mood in his squad after what has been a decent start to the season for Rovers and he is drawing inspiration from one of the world's finest ever golfers.

"I believe strongly in the team that we've got," he said. "A result like that can easily affect the group but since I took over in November we haven't actually lost that many games when you break it down but it's how you respond.

"Tiger Woods was a vey famous golfer who won many things. Tiger Woods is on the tee, he takes his shot and looks at it and then he'd take three or four steps and there's an imaginary blue line and once he'd crossed that blue line that shot had gone and all his mindset was in preparation for the next shot and what he's got to do - we use that analogy with our players."

Adkins confirmed that four players, Josh Hawkes, Sam Finley, Declan Drysdale and Brad Walker wee unavailable for this weekend's game against a side who have won just once this season and sit three places below Rovers.

"I haven't even looked at the league table - whoever we play we're going to be looking to win the game," added Adkins.

"It's another long journey and Colchester will be looking to win the game.

"They've drawn a few games and that means sometimes they could have won and sometimes they could have lost so we know it's going to be a tough game and we've done our homework on them and done our preparation."