COLCHESTER United head coach John McGreal is hoping his side’s free weekend will help revitalise his squad ahead of a hectic December.

The U’s are without a fixture tomorrow following their FA Cup first-round exit at League One outfit Accrington Stanley, earlier this month.

Colchester, whose next fixture is against Sol Campbell’s Macclesfield Town on December 8, have had a busy period of late after playing six first-team fixtures this month, four of which were away.

The latest was their 1-0 win at Forest Green Rovers on Tuesday night and with several players nursing knocks, boss McGreal says the fixture gap has come at the right time.

McGreal said: “We have to recover.

“We have one or two nursing a few muscle injuries at this moment in time.

“We wanted to be in the FA Cup to give us the funds which could have been available in January.

“We haven’t been able to do that so the next best thing is to try and win the league games and that’s what we’ve tried to do.

“I thought that we were unfortunate at Newport and the boys were hurting from that.

“But we were excellent against Exeter and we’ve been able to back that up, knowing that there’s a ten-day break.

“We have to try and make the most of the boys’ recovery.”

Ryan Jackson (hamstring) and Kane Vincent-Young (groin) are both carrying knocks following the win at Forest Green.

Leading scorer Luke Norris is sidelined with an ankle injury, while Rene Gilmartin and Tom Eastman are also still out.