TOM Lapslie admits being ruled out of Colchester United’s survival battle has left him “gutted”.

The teenage midfielder is set to miss the U’s vital home matches against Crawley Town and Yeovil Town with an ankle injury.

Lapslie has already been sidelined for nearly three weeks after suffering the knock in Colchester’s 3-2 triumph over Bristol City, last month.

And although he will not require an operation, the U’s academy product is not yet ready to return to full training.

Lapslie said: “It’s obviously really frustrating and I’m gutted that it’s happened.

“It’s disappointing but there’s nothing I can do.

“I’d had seven starts on the bounce and I wanted to make it more but it wasn’t to be.

“I just need to try and get myself fit again as soon as possible.

“As a team, we need to keep going and keep pushing - we all believe that we can do it.”

Lapslie suffered the injury after making a crunching challenge in the final stages of Colchester’s victory over League One leaders Bristol City.

But the 19-year-old insists suffering the injury has not made him any less committed to the cause.

“I wasn’t going to pull out of the challenge,” said the tenacious midfielder, who made his Colchester senior debut against Cardiff City last January.

“If it happened again, I’d do the same.

“I missed a lot of last season through injury but it’s not in my nature to pull out of tackles.

“But I knew straight away that something was wrong, as it forced my foot back further than it should have been.

“I couldn’t really walk for two days after it happened but after that, it started to improve.

“I’ve had a scan on it and they’ve said that I won’t need an operation.

“It’s a matter of resting it and letting it heal and waiting for the pain to go.

“I’ve been told it could be anything up to six weeks but I’m obviously hoping it’ll be less than that.”

Lapslie had earlier scored his first Football League goal against Bristol City, capping an impressive individual display.

He added: “I had a few family members at the game and it was a great feeling to get my first-ever league goal.

“It was nice to score after seven games, as I’m probably not known for my goalscoring!”

For all of the latest Colchester United news, including a three-page preview of the U's game with Crawley, see Friday's Daily Gazette.