COLCHESTER United will examine the extent of defender Junior Tchamadeu's injury ahead of tomorrow night's clash with Newport County.

The 17-year-old right-back was forced off with a thigh injury in the first half of the U's 3-1 win over Exeter City.

Tchamadeu, who has started Colchester's last four games, is now a doubt for the game against Newport.

Mullins said: "We think Junior took a knock to his thigh.

"It was the tackle he made down in the corner and he didn't look right after that.

"We got Coxey warm and Junior then kind of went down in the corner.

"We had a bit of feedback which said he was OK.

"But we didn't want to take any chances and then he went down again, just as we were going to bring him off anyway.

"We'll have to see where he's at."

Cameron Coxe replaced the injured Tchamadeu after 35 minutes against Exeter and wasted no time in making an impact.

The on-loan Solihull Moors defender had been on the field for barely ten minutes when he provided the pinpoint cross for Noah Chilvers to score Colchester's second goal.

Coxe has found starts few and far between for the U's over recent weeks but made a positive impression, after coming off the bench.

Mullins said: “Cam hasn’t played a lot of minutes since Sudbury.

“He came on and understood his role and he was fantastic.

“He was a credit to himself – he was excellent.

“It’s not easy to come on midway through the first half, especially against a team like Exeter who work really hard.

“They put in a real good shift as a side and they’re a tough team to break down and beat.

“They keep coming with high energy and they pose a lot of threats.

“But we also knew there would be areas to hurt them and I thought the boys did that."

Meanwhile, Mullins was delighted with goalkeeper Jake Turner's performance on his first league start for Colchester.

The Newcastle United loanee came into the U's starting line-up in place of Shamal George, who suffered a rib injury in the game at Stevenage, last weekend.

Turner made some good saves and looked assured throughout, on only his third start for Colchester.

Mullins added: “Jake has waited for his chance.

“He’s played a couple of games and he’s a really good keeper.

“Newcastle have helped us out and agreed a loan until January.

“Sham unfortunately took a knock to his ribs and we’ll see how he reports, in the next couple of days."