Colchester United will be without several players for their Accrington Stanley opener this weekend, due to injury.

Skipper Luke Prosser (knee), Kurtis Guthrie (ankle) and Doug Loft (back) are all sidelined, along with long-term absentee Brennan Dickenson (knee).

And defender Frankie Kent is also a doubt with a knee injury, sustained in the U’s friendly against Ipswich Town last week.

U's head coach John McGreal admits it is a blow to lose the injured players for the start of the season but is hoping that the likes of Guthrie, who had an injection for his injury last week, will be back soon.

McGreal said: “We’re hoping these boys, especially Kurtis, will be back sooner rather than later which will be great news for us and the squad, to give it that competitive edge.

“It’s disappointing to lose Kurtis (Guthrie), Luke (Prosser) and Brennan (Dickenson).

“We thought that we’d have Kurtis and Pross back on the first day so to lose them is a bitter blow for any team in this division and even division one.

“But we go with what we’ve got – we dealt with it last season and the boys are a close-knit group, so we move forward.”

Loft is Colchester’s latest injury worry, after he suffered a blow to his back in their friendly defeat against Gillingham last week.

The midfielder underwent an X-ray on the problem and the club are now awaiting the results.