Colchester United head coach John McGreal is hoping that Kurtis Guthrie can match team-mate Sean Murray’s powers of recovery.

The U’s boss was disappointed to see Guthrie limp from the field during their 1-1 draw at Carlisle United on Saturday and said “it didn’t look good” for his striker, who was left tending his injury with his feet in a bucket of ice after the game.

McGreal said it was possible that he could be robbed of Guthrie’s services for some upcoming games.

However, he added that Murray had looked in a similarly bad way after picking up a knock the week before against Newport County and recovered to be on the bench at Carlisle.

So while the U’s home game against Coventry may come too soon for Guthrie, McGreal is keeping his fingers crossed that his comeback will be sooner rather than later.

He said: “Kurtis has suffered a nasty tackle, which might have robbed us of him now.

“He has come back and I thought his performance was really good.

“It’s his ankle and it looked as though he was in a bit of a state.

“He was sitting with his feet in a bucket after the game so it didn’t look good.

“He’s a tough kid and it wasn’t good to see him limping off with Flynny.

“I wouldn’t have thought he’d be ready for Coventry on Tuesday, but look at Sean Murray; he made a brilliant recovery after getting a knock the week before.

“Fingers crossed, but Tuesday may come a bit soon for Kurtis.

“I don’t want to tempt fate and I know Kurtis will be the same as he has just come back and he needs a run of games as well.

“It was a nasty tackle that he took."