Colchester United defender Tom Dallison wore a face mask

But the U’s central defender’s appearance as a half-time substitute at The New Lawn sparked puzzlement among some fans, after he took to the pitch wearing a facial mask.

Dallison played in the second half of Colchester’s 5-0 defeat, after replacing Al-Amin Kazeem at half-time.

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It was the 27-year-old’s first appearance for the U’s since their home defeat to MK Dons, on August 19.

And Dallison played wearing a protective face mask, after undergoing a nose operation during his period out.

Colchester boss Ben Garner said: “When he had the injury, he had a deviated septum in his nose that blocked the airways, so he had that operated on.

“He has to wear that protective mask, in the meantime.”

Dallison came on as a half-time substitute against Forest Green, having only recently returned to full training following his injury spell.

It proved a challenging second half for the former Crawley Town defender, as the U’s played for more than half an hour with only ten men following Jay Mingi’s red card just after half-time.

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Garner added: “It was probably too much for him, half a game but Al-Amin had to come off and I felt that was our best change, in terms of finding a way back into the game.

“It became so much harder after going down to ten and it completely changed the course of the game.

“It’ll do Tom good getting that 45 minutes and hopefully we can get a few more back, in the next couple of weeks.”

Colchester are hoping to include winger Owura Edwards in their squad for the EFL Trophy Group D match at Cambridge United, tomorrow night.

Edwards has recently returned to training and is pushing to be involved for the first time since returning to the U’s on a permanent basis from Championship side Bristol City, on transfer deadline day.