Colchester United boss Tony Humes believes his players can “watch and learn” from former England star Joe Cole.

The Premier League legend is expected to be part of the Coventry City team that takes on the U’s this afternoon.

Like the Sky Blues, Humes believes his own squad is packed with quality and is comfortable with the players at his disposal.

However, he says his side can only benefit from the experience of going head to head with someone like Cole.

“Joe’s reputation speaks for itself,” said the U’s boss.

“He’s played at the very highest level so we know he’s going to be a threat.

“Coventry are trying to get him up to full speed, in terms of his fitness, to last 90 minutes.

“But we know he’s got quality wherever he plays.

“He’ll be creative and there will be times when he gets in and around the goal.

“Someone like him, who has played top-level football, gives our young players something to aspire to.

“If he plays in the number ten position, George Moncur can watch that and learn from him and I’m sure he’s someone who he has looked at over the years, being a fellow ex-Hammer.

“If George can learn something then we’ll all benefit from it.”

Colchester will also be up against one of their former players, Jacob Murphy.

The striker was on loan last season, scoring four goals in 11 appearances.

And Humes is expecting an open game between two attack-minded teams.

“It could be a very exciting game,” said the U’s boss.

“Coventry have got quality, experienced players but then so have we.

“They play in a similar way to ourselves and it might be very open.

“We’ll take a lot of confidence from last week’s win at Wealdstone, in terms of the number of chances we created.

“The way we played was a little more direct and a little bit longer at times, but we got success from it.

“There have been times when we’ve kept playing it short and been caught out.

“We’ve got to get back to having a mix, as we did at times last season, where you’re a little bit more unpredictable.”

Owen Garvan is rated 50-50 because of his hip injury, as is Darren Ambrose (toe).

George Elokobi trained on Thursday and is back in the reckoning, but the game has come too soon for the likes of Richard Brindley and Alex Wynter.

Follow all of the action from the U's game with Coventry at www.gazette-news.co.uk