Colchester United winger Courtney Senior battling to be fit

The skilful winger limped out of the U's 2-1 defeat at Crawley Town last weekend, due to a heavily swollen ankle.

Senior, who has started all but two of Colchester's League Two games so far this season, underwent an X-ray on the injury on Tuesday.

And although he was given the green light after that, he was absent from training today as the U's prepare for their home clash with the Shrimps, at the JobServe Community Stadium.

Speaking at his pre-match press call at the U's Florence Park training ground, head coach John McGreal said: “Courtney’s one of the boys who hasn’t been able to train.

“He came off against Crawley and had an X-ray on Tuesday.

“That was all clear but he’s one that we haven’t been able to see at the minute."

Brandon Comley were also absent from Colchester's training today, after returning from international duty with Montserrat.

The midfielder, who played two games for Montserrat over the international period, was given an extra recovery day in the gym after flying back from representing his country.

However, winger Luke Gambin did train with the rest of the Colchester first-team squad, having returned from playing for Malta against Sweden and Faroe Islands in the 2020 European Championship qualifiers.

Meanwhile, winger Callum Harriott has been training with Colchester's first team, after featuring in their Essex Senior Cup third-round defeat at Heybridge Swifts on Tuesday night.

Harriott played 45 minutes at Scraley Road, his first match action since returning to the U's on a permanent basis last month.

The former Reading and Charlton Athletic players has been sidelined with a quad problem, since re-joining Colchester.

McGreal added: “Callum’s just got back involved in little bits of training with the first team

“He played 45 minutes for the under-23s the other night, so that’s an extra box ticked for us.

“We were wondering whether to get him in that one or wait until next week."