COLCHESTER United boss Danny Cowley is hoping a full week between games will have boosted duo Kylian Kouassi and Jay Williams' fitness levels ahead of this weekend's home clash with Crewe Alexandra.
The deadline-day signings made an impact for the U's at Swindon Town but both had to be withdrawn before the 70-minute mark, on their first starts for the club.
Cowley said: “I think having a full week has helped Kylian and Jay.
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“Had a game come around really quickly on the Tuesday, then we’d have had to be careful with how we used them.
“They would have taken a lot of fitness from the Swindon game, from the exposure to that game.
“They then recovered well and were able to train.
“It has to be quite a gradual process.
“We all want to get to the outcome that we want really quickly but if we accelerate it too quick, then we can end up exposing the player to injury so we have to be pretty intelligent with how we do it.
“There has to be quite a layered, gradual approach.
“We’re hopeful that they’re both going to be fit for the weekend and they’re going to be able to push on from where they were, last Saturday.
“We pushed both Jay and Kylian to their limits, to be honest with you.
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“I thought Jay played really well in the first half – we were hoping to get him to 60 and I think we got to about 55.
“It was the same with Kylian, who I thought was incredible for us in the first half, the way he linked the play, held the ball up, brought others into the game, the goal threat that he carried, the goal that he scored, everything you would want from a number nine.
“But we knew that we had to be sensible with him.
“He’s played a bit more than Jay Williams but obviously coming off the back of the injury history that he’s had, you have to understand when you’re a professional footballer and you change clubs, there’s a lot of things happening.
“He’s moving from Blackpool to Essex, all the emotional toll that it takes to go from one club to another, to say your goodbyes at one club and to start new relationships at a new club.
“It would have been really reckless for us to have played him for longer than we did.”
Colchester are hopeful that Kane Vincent-Young will be available for the Crewe game after he missed the Swindon defeat with a hamstring problem.
Jake Leake could return to the U's squad but midfielder Teddy Bishop is still sidelined with a hamstring injury.
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