COLCHESTER United will today assess the fitness of three of their defenders ahead of their trip to play Oldham Athletic tomorrow.

Tommy Smith missed the U’s 1-1 draw with Mansfield Town with a back injury, while Ryan Clampin (ankle) and Tom Eastman (hamstring) were both forced off during the game because of injury.

All three are doubts for the League Two game at Boundary Park and U’s head coach Hayden Mullins says they will examine the fitness of the three players today.

Mullins said: “We’re going to assess the boys.

“They’ve been in this morning and nursing what they’ve got.

“A few of them were out training and we had a real good look at them.

“We’ll have a look in more detail tomorrow (Friday) to see where they are.

“We’re flexible and open and we have players in the team who can play in a variety of positions.”

Smith was forced to sit out Colchester’s draw with Mansfield because of a back issue.

Mullins said: “Tommy jarred his back (on Monday) right at the beginning of training.

“He didn’t train and we were waiting to see if it was better.

“He came in (on Tuesday) and said ‘yeah, it feels better’.

“I took the decision out of his hands and decided to keep him out of the game.

“I think it’s proved to be the right one because with Easty (Tom Eastman) going down and if (Tommy) had played and wasn’t quite right and he went down too, we’d be really down.”

Colchester suffered two other defensive injuries during their draw with Mansfield.

Long-serving defender Eastman was forced off with what appeared to be a hamstring injury in the first half of the Stags clash.

And then left-back Clampin also limped off after rolling his ankle during the second half of the game.

Colchester head to Oldham in search of their first win of the season having battled back to rescue a point against Mansfield, after Freddie Sears struck home a stoppage-time equaliser from the spot.