COLCHESTER United midfielder Cole Skuse sat out the club's 1-0 defeat at Stockport County, at the weekend.

The experienced midfielder was absent for the narrow loss, at Edgeley Park.

Skuse has undergone an injection in a bid to help him overcome a troublesome knee problem.

The 36-year-old, who started all but five of the U's league games last season, sat out the U's 1-0 defeat at Stockport County with the injury.

Skuse has been carrying the injury since pre-season and boss Wayne Brown is hoping the former Ipswich Town favourite will be back fully fit soon, after having the injection last week.

Brown said: “Cole has had an injection into his knee.

“He had it last Thursday, so we’ll keep tabs on that and see how it settles down.

“He shouldn’t be out for too long with that.

“We just need to tread carefully and make sure that we don’t bring him back into the environment when he’s not ready to and set him back.

“It’s been an ongoing one with Cole and we’ve had to wheel him out a few times now.

“He wasn’t involved in the last pre-season game (at Ebbsfleet) and that was the reason why.

“We’ve had to try and manage the injury to the best of our ability, which we’ve tried to do.

“This is the first game he’s been unavailable for and it comes to a point where it’s detrimental to the individual and his performance levels.

“We had to address it and that’s what we’ve done.

“Hopefully, we can move forward and get him back quickly."

Gazette:

Skuse is one of seven first-team players currently sidelined for Colchester.

Alan Judge, Ossama Ashley, Chay Cooper, Gene Kennedy, Emyr Huws and Tommy Smith are also out.

“We’ve got seven players out and they’re seven quite influential players in our squad," added Brown.

“When you’re running with small numbers, you need a little bit of luck with injuries.

“We’ve not really had a settled side this season with one thing or another.

“We gave opportunities in a cup competition to some youngsters and they took it with both hands.

“They fully warranted staying in the team and I thought they did well again (at Stockport).

“When the squad is stretched, we’ve still got people who can compete but as a collective, we need to have more quality."

Colchester are back in action tomorrow night when they host Bradford City, at the JobServe Community Stadium.