COLCHESTER United defender Al-Amin Kazeem is on the road to recovery after receiving good news on his ankle injury.

The 21-year-old wing-back has been out for two and a half months but is now back out on the grass, as he edges closer to a U's comeback.

Kazeem is only taking part in running exercises at Florence Park as present, with no ball work.

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However, the U's academy product does not require ankle surgery and his upcoming return is good news for boss Matty Etherington, who is also hoping to welcome back fellow left-sided defender Ellis Iandolo in the coming weeks.

Writing in the U's matchday programme, first-team physio Hayden Clifton said: "Al-Amin Kazeem has had a real positive few weeks, the review with the specialist and the follow up X-rays were very positive, only showing a 1mm deficit compared to the uninjured side.

Gazette:

"This means that our conservative rehab has worked really well and there is no operation required.

"We have had Al-Amin back on the grass this week."

Kazeem has made 11 league and cup appearances for Colchester so far, this season.

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The attack-minded full-back, who made his senior debut for the U's in August 2022, has made 35 first-team appearances for the club.

Meanwhile, Colchester are hoping winger Owura Edwards can return to grass-based training before the end of the month.

The 22-year-old has been sidelined with a knee injury sustained in the closing stages of the U’s 2-1 home defeat to Harrogate Town on October 21, which proved to be Ben Garner's final game in charge.

Gazette:

Edwards was making only his second substitute appearance for Colchester since returning from an ankle injury which had previously ruled him out for nearly three months.

However, he is on the road to recovery and will soon be able to remove his knee brace.

Clifton told the U's matchday programme for the recent Barrow game: "We can now begin to integrate bike conditioning sessions along with more dynamic proprioception and medial quadricep/hamstring loading.

"With all being well, we will look to have him grass based for conditioning work in the next two-three weeks."