Tony Humes was rather mischievously asked in the aftermath of Colchester United's defeat against Coventry City if he might contemplate dusting off his boots, in the wake of the U's worsening defensive injury crisis.

“That would be desperate,” quipped the former Ipswich Town centre-back, but the U’s boss was right to acknowledge he has a problem on his hands in the wake of skipper Magnus Okuonghae’s Achilles injury, which looks likely to rule him out for the rest of the season.

It is ironic given the circumstances that Humes and his assistant Richard Hall, not to mention U’s academy coaches John McGreal and Wayne Brown, were all highly competent centre-backs in their time.

How Colchester could dearly do with just one of them in their pomp right now, given the severity of the shortage of cover in the position.

They have moved quickly to fill the gap left by Okuonghae's injury, bringing in young centre-back Will Packwood from Birmingham City on loan until January 1.

He already has Championship experience but it is bound to take him time to settle in at the U's.

Such defensive problems are of course a far cry from the early weeks of Humes’ reign, where he helped transform a porous back four into one which kept four clean sheets in his opening five games in charge.

But Colchester have shipped 11 goals in their last five games and worryingly, have failed to keep a clean sheet in ten matches.

The reality of late is that they have failed to field a settled back four, partly because of injuries but also due to the likes of Ben Gordon and Elliott Hewitt dropping in and out of the team.

It has been six matches since the U’s fielded the same defence and with Okuonghae’s unfortunate injury, further change is inevitable at MK Dons this weekend as Colchester attempt to get back on track.

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