COLCHESTER United are set to welcome goalkeeper Owen Goodman back into their squad for their game against Crawley Town this weekend.
The on-loan Crystal Palace goalkeeper has missed the U’s last four matches due to an ankle injury.
Goodman returned to his parent club for assessment but has trained this week and is set to return for the League Two clash, at the JobServe Community Stadium.
Colchester boss Matty Etherington said: “Owen is fine.
“He’s trained all week so he’ll be in the squad.”
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Colchester skipper Connor Hall could also return to the squad for the Crawley game, although this weekend might be too soon for the experienced defender.
Hall is still recovering from hernia surgery and may not be ready in time to be named in the squad for the game against the Reds.
“We’re going to make a late call on Connor,” said Etherington.
“He may need an injection at the weekend, just to settle some groin pain down.
“It’s nothing serious.
“If he’s not available for Saturday, then he’ll be available for Wrexham.
“He’s done brilliantly to get to this point and he’s desperate to get out there and help the team.
“But unfortunately, he felt a little pain in his groin this week so it may need an injection to settle it down and then he’ll be fine for Wrexham.”
Etherington must decide whether or not to start experienced striker John Akinde against his former club Crawley.
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The 34-year-old made his first senior appearance for two and a half months in Colchester’s Bristol Street Motors Trophy defeat to West Ham United under-21s, on Tuesday night.
Etherington added: “That’s the dilemma; that’s what’s been keeping me up all last night!
“They’re the situations that I’ve got to try and get right.
“I’m not always going to do that, I haven’t done recently or all the time but I’ll do my best to make the right decisions.
“John will give us something completely different to what we’ve currently got in the team.
“The majority of our players are players who want to run towards the opposition’s goal, play in behind and have the team to create chances for them whereas John gives us something completely different.
“He got his 45 minutes for the 21s and half an hour against West Ham.
“It’s a decision for me to make as head coach as to whether I think he’s ready to start on Saturday.
“Does he need some more little cameos before he’s ready to start 90 minutes.
“He’s been out for a while and I just need to make the right call on that.”
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