John McGreal has not ruled out the possibility of Colchester United adding more players to their squad before the big kick-off.

The U’s have already brought in six new signings this summer, the majority of whom were on show in their 4-1 opening pre-season friendly win at Maldon and Tiptree on Saturday.

Colchester fans got their first chance to see the likes of Harry Pell, Frank Nouble and Aaron Collins in action at Maldon, following their arrival at the JobServe Community Stadium.

And boss McGreal says there is a chance that the ranks could be further bolstered before their all-important League Two curtain-raiser at Notts County, on August 4.

McGreal said: “It’s possible that there could be more new signings – never say never.

“I’ve got quite a few friends in the game and they’re the same, thinking that they’re done.

“But I’m sure once games get going and injuries come along or people move on, I still think there will be business to do.

“We’ve tried to do our work early and we’ve actually done that, especially with the big areas we wanted to hit through the spine of the team.

“It’s not only the signings we’ve brought in – it’s also Luke Prosser and Ryan Jackson signing new contracts.

“We weren’t giving them ultimatums but we were saying to them that we need decisions quite quickly.

“Ryan signed within a week and Luke was a couple of weeks later.”

First-half goals from Luke Prosser, Sammie Szmodics and Aaron Collins set Colchester on their way at Maldon with Sam Warde, one of a number of under-23 players who featured for the Bostik League division north side replying with a superb 25-yard free-kick.

Mikael Mandron wrapped up Colchester’s comfortable victory in the second half, as they eased through their opening pre-season friendly.

McGreal added: “We said through the week that it’s an extended part of our training season.

“We brought in a number of our under-23 players alongside our new signings and Maldon had some of our under-23 players, too, just to give them a little bit more exposure.

“We’ve got a fantastic relationship with Maldon and it was a great exercise.

“We’ve seen some of the pluses of the good signings that we’ve made, so it was a great exercise.

“Credit to Wayne Brown and his team for putting on a good show.”