WAYNE Brown has explained the reasoning behind his surprise decision to leave leading scorer Freddie Sears out of his Colchester United starting line-up for the crunch game against Oldham Athletic.

Sears had started all but two of the U's games in League Two this season prior to the Latics clash, with only Cole Skuse featuring more times in the starting XI.

The 32-year-old striker has hit ten goals in that time but was left on the bench for the game against Oldham, at the JobServe Community Stadium.

Sears came off the bench at half-time in place of John Akinde and performed well, helping the hosts claim a point in the 1-1 draw.

Sears' omission was one of four changes made by Brown for the Oldham game - and the U's interim boss says he is trying to keep all of the players in the squad as fresh as possible, as they battle to beat the drop.

Brown said: “I think sometimes it does players good who have played loads and loads of minutes to try and keep them as fresh as you can.

“John does give us a different dynamic, which is what we went with in the first half.

“But obviously Freddie is a good player and we know that when he’s called upon, he’ll come in and make an impact like he did (against Oldham).

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“We’ve got 23 first-team players and they’re all going to be needed between now and the end of the season.

“We’re probably in a bit of a different position to the one that Hayden (Mullins) found himself in with injuries and with lack of bodies.

“That’s not the case now and it’s about managing all of those bodies and making sure that they’re right when they’re called upon.

“You’re in the job to make tough decisions.

“But we can only pick a team that we feel is going to give us the best chance in that game against that opposition and it will be no different on Tuesday."

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Colchester rescued a point against Oldham, after Noah Chilvers' deflected equaliser cancelled out Davis Keillor-Dunn's first-half strike, for the Latics.

The U's were largely second best before half-time at the JobServe Community Stadium but were much improved after the break.

And Brown (pictured above) feels their second-half display bodes well, ahead of their vital home game against fellow strugglers Leyton Orient tomorrow night.

“Questions were asked of them and they got booed off the pitch, at half-time because the crowd are frustrated," said Brown.

“They find themselves 1-0 down in a game of football, against a team that are lower than you in the table.

“That’s when you do need your character and when you do need your players to see beyond the noise and I thought they did that.

“They produced a good response in the second half and there are a lot of encouraging signs, to take into Tuesday."

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Brown had special praise for Colchester's midfield for their second-half display against Oldham.

“I thought the midfield unit were dominant," added Brown.

“(Cole) Skuse (pictured above), Judgey (Alan Judge) and Noah really dominated that midfield area, not just with the quality in the second half that they produced with intelligent balls into good areas but first and second balls.

“They really put the graft in.

“We changed it a little bit in the second half, with regards to tweaking those three in there.

“Noah’s had a great game, playing in there as the ten.

“You’re asking for leaders and good character and they showed it."