Karl Duguid believes this weekend’s Essex derby can be the perfect game for Colchester United players to follow up their FA Cup glamour tie against Spurs.

U’s hero Duguid, who was inducted into the club’s Hall of Fame last Saturday night along with Duncan Forbes, had plenty of experience of playing against Southend United during his many years as a Colchester player.

Kevin Keen’s side are preparing to return to League One action with a trip to play their county neighbours, at Roots Hall.

And Duguid feels the derby could be the perfect game for the U’s to go into, following their one-off game against Tottenham Hotspur.

Duguid said: “The Southend game is a great game for Colchester to go into after the Spurs game.

“Colchester’s players will still be on a high after the Spurs game despite the result – they didn’t let anyone down and they’ll go into the Essex derby with that same sort of atmosphere.

“I used to love playing against Southend and I’m sure all of the players are looking forward to it.

“I played against Ipswich Town and Wycombe Wanderers during my time at Colchester but I always looked forward to the Southend derby the most because they’re special games.

“Colchester have to start winning football matches but by all accounts, their performances have been better recently even though they haven’t been getting the results they would like.

“I hope they get a result at Southend because they need to start getting the rewards they deserve in games.”

Duguid said Colchester’s task was always going to be tough against Premier League high-flier Spurs – but was made even harder by the setback of losing their two centre-backs to injury.

Both Alex Wynter and Tom Eastman had to be withdrawn in the opening quarter of the U’s 4-1 defeat, following a clash of heads.

“Colchester gave a good account of themselves and that’s all you can ask,” said Duguid, who played more than 400 times for the U’s.

“Tottenham are a top team, probably the best team to watch in the Premier League at the moment although Arsenal fans might have something to say about that.

“Everything was against Colchester before they started and the gulf between the two clubs is massive, so when they lost both of their centre-backs like that to injury it made it even harder.

“That was a bit soul destroying for them but they kept going and kept it at 1-0 at half-time.

“But Spurs moved the ball well and they gave respect to Colchester by playing a strong side like they did.

“It was a good day for Colchester and for everyone and Tottenham’s players conducted themselves very well by all accounts.”

Meanwhile, Duguid says it was a “great honour” to be inducted into Colchester’s Hall of Fame, after being voted into the prestigious group by the club’s fans.

Duguid, who skippered the U’s to their historic promotion to the Championship in 2006, joined the esteemed list of inductees at the Former Players’ Dinner at the Weston Homes Community Stadium, on Saturday night.

Duguid said: “It’s a great honour and it was voted for by the fans, which was nice because it shows they appreciate what you did for the club as a player.

“Somebody listed on Twitter my achievements during my time at Colchester and said that I was the club’s most successful Academy graduate.

“I gave the club 18 years of service as a player and a coach, played at Wembley twice, helped the club achieve their three highest-place finishes in the league and scored the winner against Ipswich Town in the Championship.

“They text me all of these things I’ve done and I look back and think “wow”.

“When someone praises you like that you look at yourself and think I haven’t done too badly, having being at a club for 18 years as a player and coach.

“When I first came to the club as part of the youth team, I don’t think I would have been picked out by someone to go on and achieve what I did for the football club.”