FORMER Colchester United winger Brennan Dickenson will miss this weekend's return to his old club with Carlisle United after suffering an injury blow.

The 29-year-old, who spent three years at the U's between 2016 and 2019, has suffered a small tear to his anterior cruciate ligament in training.

Dickenson will now miss Carlisle's trip to play Colchester on Saturday and is set for an extended spell on the sidelines.

It is rotten luck for the winger, who battled back from a serious knee injury at the U's to make a total of 93 appearances for them under John McGreal, scoring 15 goals.

Dickenson said: “It’s hard to explain just how frustrated I am that this has happened.

 

“Simmo has been fantastic with me, and coming back from my honeymoon at the start of pre-season I could feel the real positive vibe that there is around the whole club.

“You obviously want to be part of that but now, with this, it means that my focus has to be on getting whatever treatment is needed done, and then getting fit as quickly as I possibly can.

“I’ll be supporting the lads in every way I can while I do that and I know they’ll be helping me as well, because that’s the kind of group we are."

Dickenson joined Colchester in the summer of 2016 and, in his first season, scooped the player-of-the-year and players' player-of-the-year accolades.

He left to join MK Dons in 2019 and also played for Exeter City before joining Carlisle in August, 2020.

Former Brighton and Hove Albion youngster Dickenson signed a new one-year deal with the Cumbrians, in June.

Carlisle manager Paul Simpson told the club website: "What we will do now is look after him and make sure he gets the right care and medical attention.

“He’ll see the surgeon in the next few days to determine the next course of action, be that surgery or further treatment.

“Bren is a strong character, so he’ll deal with it, but he’s obviously gutted that it’s happened when all he wants to be doing is getting out on the pitch and playing his part.”