Colchester United’s leading scorer Kurtis Guthrie will see a specialist tomorrow to help assess the extent of his ankle injury.

Guthrie is currently wearing a protective plaster cast on his left leg.

But that will be temporarily removed to help determine the severity of the injury.

The 23-year-old is set to miss Colchester’s game at Grimsby Town tonight after being stretchered off in the closing stages of their 2-1 win over Hartlepool United.

The U’s are hoping that the former Forest Green Rovers striker will not be sidelined for too long, as they attempt to push for promotion from League Two.

Meanwhile, Colchester head coach John McGreal says they are assessing key midfielder Craig Slater on a daily basis as he battles a troublesome groin problem.

The former Kilmarnock player has missed the U’s last two games but was named in their squad for the visit of Hartlepool.

U’s manager McGreal said: “We’re still assessing Craig – we know he needs the operation but it’s a case of when.

“He was in the squad but then we were thinking to see which bodies we had. We felt it was a little bit too much for him to be on the bench, so it’s a daily assessment.”

McGreal is hoping to see the likes of Lewis Kinsella and Sammie Szmodics return to boost the first-team fray soon after injuries.

He added: “Let’s hope we can get one or two injuries back who have been on the treatment table for a long time – that’s the main thing.

“We’re looking for them now to come in and give us that little bit of a freshness for the squad as there’s a lot of boys who have played throughout the season and we need these boys back.”