COLCHESTER United head coach John McGreal admits his new signings have immediately given him a selection dilemma ahead of tomorrow’s clash with Cheltenham Town.

The U’s head into the home meeting with the Robins on the back of a thumping 4-0 away win at Northampton Town, last weekend.

Ben Stevenson impressed after starting against the Cobblers, following the midfielder’s permanent move from Wolves last week.

And loan duo Abo Eisa and Callum Roberts both came off the bench to good effect at Sixfields and are now pushing for starts.

Brennan Dickenson also impressed as a second-half substitute and with the likes of Tom Lapslie and Tom Eastman left out of the starting line-up last weekend, boss McGreal admits he has plenty to ponder.

McGreal said: “It gives us a little bit of a headache now knowing that we had a great performance and result but also that players are in good form and if they’re not, there are players ready to come in.

“It’s given me a lot of food for thought, to be honest.

“Not that we haven’t had headaches before but after winning the game in the way we did at Northampton, I don’t think we’ve had that this season.

“The subs have come on and really affected the game as well, which was really pleasing.

“For them to pick up the heat of the game really quickly and perform the way they did was really encouraging.

“It’s brilliant for a manager when new signings make an immediate impact.

“It gives me something to think about again coming up to this weekend because those boys want to come and play and if you look at it, certain individuals certainly raised their game knowing that.”

Colchester had a productive final few days of the transfer window, after bringing in three new signings.

They also held on to prize assets such as Sammie Szmodics and Kane Vincent-Young and boss McGreal is pleased that the window is now closed.

“You know what you’ve got now," said McGreal.

“You can’t wait for it to get done because then you know what you’ve got, until the end of the season – that’s how I look at it.

“We tried to get work done early – we couldn’t as such but now we know what we’ve got until the end of the season which is great and I think that’s what everyone wants.