John Ward has rubbished suggestions that Clinton Morrison was axed from his Colchester United starting line-up for comments made to the press.

Fans have claimed on the Gazette website that the experienced striker was dropped for the U’s game at Brentford because of what he said in a pre-match interview, last Thursday.

Morrison, 33, had suggested that Colchester’s players need to “grow up”, in the wake of the 4-0 thrashing at Tranmere Rovers.

The former Republic of Ireland international said that the U’s need leaders on the pitch.

Morrison was one of four players left out of Colchester’s starting line-up for their match at Griffin Park, which ended in a 1-0 defeat.

However, boss Ward insisted that his team selection was made purely for footballing reasons - and nothing else.

Ward said: “Clinton came out of the team last Saturday because I wanted to go with two pacy men up front.

“I decided to go with Freddie Sears and Ian Henderson together and that was the only reason.

“If I felt it was right to go with Clinton I would have done that and the decisions I made were for footballing reasons.”

See Wednesday's Gazette for more on this story and all of the latest Colchester United news.