COLCHESTER United will assess the fitness of experienced duo Freddie Sears and Alan Judge today after they missed the Carabao Cup win at Ipswich Town.

The U's pair were both left sidelined after picking up knocks in their side's 1-1 draw with Carlisle United, last weekend.

Sears suffered an injury following a challenge with Carlisle keeper Tomas Holy in the closing stages of the League Two clash, at the JobServe Community Stadium.

The duo have joined Tommy Smith and Emyr Huws in the treatment room at Florence Park, ahead of the trip to play Stockport County this weekend.

Wayne Brown made four changes to his starting line-up for the win at Ipswich and the U's boss said it gives opportunities for other players to impress.

Brown said: “We’ve got some experienced players missing, some big players for us.

“Since I’ve been in the environment from January until now, they’ve played pretty much all of the games for us – Searsy, the club captain Tommy, Judgey, Ems (Huws).

“They’ve been real good performers for us but ultimately, when injuries come along with a small squad, it gives people opportunity.

“If they earn that opportunity, we give it to them and then what they do with it is down to the individual.

“The confidence that I’ve got in these individuals is big.

Gazette:

“There’s not been a lot of activity in the transfer window for two reasons.

“One is that we’ve got probably 15/16 lads under contract from last year.

“We’ve got a pot of gold which isn’t going to go far.

“Now it’s about how we spend that pot of gold but also, what we’ve got in our own ranks that we feel confident can go out and do a job.

“We have got some talent and that will be called upon during the season."

Brown was happy with the way his young players performed at Ipswich.

Al-Amin Kazeem and Marley Marshall Miranda both made their first competitive starts for Colchester, as did Ossama Ashley (pictured below).

Gazette:

“All you can ask for is a little bit of buy in and a little bit of a sponge mentality to take the information on and then have the confidence to go out there and execute it," added Brown.

"The young lads did that with some older lads around them, which helped them.

“Marley has played a handful of games in the centre of the park and he got 90 minutes under his belt in an arena like that, against players like that.

“That can only do the young boy the world of good."