COLCHESTER United chairman Robbie Cowling is hoping more fans will vote for their one-off shirt before this weekend's deadline.

Voting for the shirt that the U's will wear for their Essex derby game against Southend United on April 20 closes at midnight, on Sunday.

The unique replica shirt that is chosen will only be made available to fans who have earned the required Loyal Supporter tokens, which can be collected when accessing U's games on iFollow this season.

In a statement on the U's website, Cowling said: "As it stands, only 358 of fans with loyalty tokens have voted and 279 of those now have additional tokens to cast additional votes with. 1,273 fans have yet to vote at all.

"The Blue and White kit is winning with 55% of the votes but the Yellow and Blue kit is not that far behind with 40%.

"Please do vote for what will be an historic shirt which money will not be able to buy."

The U's shirt vote is part of Colchester's attempts to reward the loyalty of their supporters, during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The club has selected three options from the Macron ranges and only fans who have tokens will determine the shirt that the players wear against Southend.

In addition, the actual shirts worn by the 18 squad members will be won by a draw, with each token providing the token holder with a lottery ticket.

One token is worth one vote.

Colchester supporters have until midnight on Sunday, January 31, to make their choice.

Log into your account at http://www.colutickets.com and vote for the shirt you want the team to wear.