COLCHESTER United's opening two friendlies of pre-season are to be screened live online.

Steve Ball's side will host League One outfit Gillingham on Saturday (August 15), at the JobServe Community Stadium.

And they will follow that up with a home clash with their East Anglian neighbours Ipswich Town next Tuesday (August 18).

Supporters are not yet permitted to attend matches, due to the Covid-19 restrictions in place.

But the two friendly matches will be streamed, via the camera the U's use for their match analysis.

Colchester host Gillingham on Saturday with two 60-minute games taking place, with kick off at 1.30pm and then 3pm.

They then follow that up with two 75-minute games against Ipswich next Tuesday, with the first game kicking off at 6pm and the second at 8pm.

U's chairman Robbie Cowling told the club's website: "To prepare for the season, we are playing pre-season games at our stadium and we are going to be able to stream these games via our own streaming product.

"We will stream the footage we capture on the camera we use for match analysis, so please be aware that the broadcast quality will not be up to the standard of the EFL’s iFollow streaming.

"The first is on Saturday 15th August and will involve two sixty minute games against Gillingham.

"The first game against Gillingham is scheduled to kick off at 1:30pm and the second at 3:00pm. This has been arranged to give all of the players sixty minutes.

"The match footage will be streamed for this game but there will not be any match commentary.

"The games against Gillingham will be available to anyone who has an account on colutickets.com and:

1. Was a season ticket holder last season; or

2. Has a current balance of at least £10.00 on a Privilege Card; or

3. Has contributed their refund to Club United; or

4. Has at least one outstanding match credit.

"If you don’t currently qualify for any of the above, then you can simply top up your existing Privilege Card to £10.00 or create one with £10.00 allocated to it and then you will qualify.

"The second is on Tuesday 18th August and will involve two seventy five minute games against Ipswich Town.

"The first game against Ipswich is scheduled to kick off at 6:00pm and the second at 8:00pm. This has been arranged to give all of the players seventy five minutes.

"The match footage will be streamed and we will be providing match commentary.

"The games against Ipswich will only be available to anyone who pays £5.00 to gain access.

"They will need to do this via colutickets.com and this is available now."