WAYNE Brown wants Colchester United to have TWO number one goalkeepers vying for a starting spot this season.

The U's have brought in former Manchester United shot-stopper Kieran O'Hara on a one-year deal.

Colchester acted to reinforce their goalkeeper options, following the departure of Player of the Year Shamal George to Livingston, last month.

O'Hara, a Republic of Ireland international, will compete with Sam Hornby to be Colchester first-team keeper.

Brown said: “My preference was to run with two number ones, just like we did for the whole of the second half of last season when we brought Sam across from Bradford.

“I honestly felt that Sam and Sham were two number ones and they were fighting for the shirt and this is no different.

“Kieran has come in as a number one with Sam and ultimately, it’s whoever is performing to the best of their ability who will get the shirt.

“We’ve identified Kieran as somebody that’s going to be a real key figure for us.

 

“We lost Sham ten days ago and we’ve acted reasonably quickly.

“We’ve identified Kieran a couple of weeks ago, done our due diligence on it and it’s taken that long to do the deal and get it over the line.

“We’re happy to have him on board and he’ll be a great addition with the experience that he’s got and the levels that he’s played at – he can only be a benefit to us.

“Kieran is a very competent keeper who has been around and has played at a better level than we are, at the present.

“He’s an international, so he’s got that experience as well.

“We’ve identified that and we tried to get him over the line and thankfully, we did."

Meanwhile, Brown has confirmed that midfielder Emyr Huws is likely to be sidelined for around two months with an ankle injury.

The former Ipswich Town player suffered the injury in a friendly against Millwall last month.

And although he does not require surgery, Huws is still set to be sidelined until October.

Meanwhile, skipper Tommy Smith is set to see a specialist today about the foot injury he suffered in the Millwall friendly.