Colchester United head coach John McGreal says he would like to add new signings before the transfer window closes tonight - despite a growing injury list.

The U's were missing Owen Garvan, Doug Loft, Frankie Kent, Louis Dunne and Matt Briggs for their Checkatrade Trophy game at Crawley Town, last night.

And with Craig Slater and James Bransgrove currently away on international duty with Scotland under-21s, Colchester's numbers are looking a little depleted ahead of their home clash with Exeter City on Saturday.

McGreal has confirmed that the U's are interested in making loan signings before the window slams shut at 11pm tonight.

But he insists they still have a strong enough squad until the window reopens in January to cope with the weeks and months ahead.

McGreal said: "Over the space of 48 hours, we've had a combination of four players who have gone down, which didn't help us at Crawley.

"But we've got a strong enough squad, when we tap into the under-21s.

"It's already been in the thoughts beforehand but whether we can or not, who knows?

"We'll wait and see what happens but hopefully something will happen.

"If it doesn't, we move on and move forward and we go with what we've got."

McGreal confirmed that four of his first-team players are currently on the treatment table along with Briggs, who is recovering after a hip operation.

McGreal said: "Owen (Garvan) came back but then went down in training with his quad.

"Doug (Loft) has got a recurrence of a problem around his Achilles and his calf area, which has tightened up over the last week or ten days.

"Frankie (Kent) was rested for a week but came back and then tweaked his knee again.

"Louis Dunne was out and came back but now he's tweaked his ankle again."