Doug Loft is one of a quartet of players released by Colchester United, this afternoon.

Craig Slater, Denny Johnstone and Tommy O'Sullivan have also left the Community Stadium.

They were all out of contract this summer and the U’s have decided not to offer them new deals.

Loft joined Colchester on a free transfer from Gillingham in July, 2016.

But the 31-year-old managed just 12 league starts for the U’s during his two-year spell in Essex, after an injury-interrupted spell at the club.

Colchester head coach John McGreal said: “We tried to get that player of ilk to come in with his experience.

“But for whatever reason with the injuries, it just didn’t work out.

“When Doug did play, I thought that he was a good part of the club at times.

“He just hasn’t been fit enough.”

Slater and Johnstone have all moved onto pastures new, having spent the second-half of the League Two campaign out on loan.

The duo returned to Scotland to play on loan at Dundee United and St Johnstone respectively.

O'Sullivan, who has been on loan at National League side Torquay United, has also been released.

“Craig looked a quality player when he came in,” said McGreal of Slater, who made 32 appearances for the U’s in his first season with the club.

“We’ve gone through all of his stats and different things and injuries cost him, last year.

“They robbed him of a fantastic part of the season.

“He came in, in the early part of this season and wasn’t quite the player that we had, as such.

“We felt it was good for him to go on loan to his native Scotland but the only problem has been that he hasn’t had game time, along with Denny.

“Denny went up there too to get the game time but didn’t really get the minutes.”

With midfield trio Loft, Slater and O'Sullivan leaving, boss McGreal says they are looking to reinforce their options in that department.

“It’s that type of area of the pitch that we’ve been looking at.

“But we also need to tie down the players we have and we want to keep as many of the Colchester boys as we can.

“We’re looking for players to come in and improve the squad.

“Let’s get this week out of the way and then we’ll know where we are, moving forward.”

McGreal has been meeting with his current squad today, following the climax of their League Two season last weekend.

He added: “We’ve got the players in individually, just to go over the season.

“We’ll also be talking about contracts as well but it’s mainly to talk about how the season went, as individuals.”