COLCHESTER United boss Matty Etherington says it is a ‘big plus’ to have skipper Connor Hall back in his squad.

The U’s captain has missed the club’s last eight games after undergoing hernia surgery, in which time they have won only once but is now back available again.

Hall could come straight into Colchester’s starting line-up for their home clash with Salford City tomorrow night and Etherington says his return is a welcome boost.

Etherington said: “Connor is club captain and is a really experienced professional.

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“He’s a steady character as well and the boys feed off him when he’s on the pitch and the training pitch.

“He leads by example and we’ve missed him, there’s no doubt about that.

“He’s a big plus that’s come back into the squad."

Fellow defenders Tom Dallison and Al-Amin Kazeem are also set to join Hall in the Colchester squad for the Salford game.

Gazette: Tom Dallison

They will join Ellis Iandolo, who returned after a four-month injury lay-off for the U’s last weekend as a second-half substitute in their 2-1 defeat at Wrexham.

“Slowly but surely, we’re getting some numbers back, which is pleasing to see,” said Etherington.

“There’s a healthy balance within the team, in that all four of them are left footers.

“It’s probably something we’ve not had recently, so they’re all welcome additions.

“We have to look at how many minutes the likes of Connor Hall and Tom Dallison, in terms of who starts and how many minutes do they play without the risk of injuries, further down the line and the amount of games we have coming up.

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“It’s the same with Ellis; he got 30 minutes at Wrexham, which is what we thought was best for him.

“That will get built up again but we need to manage that and that’s conversations with the sports science, medical department etc to make sure that these players are with us for a long period of time, all the way through to the end of the season.

“Everyone saw what Ellis gave us when he was on the pitch at Wrexham.

“He offers us balance and real quality on the left hand side, which showed with his cross for the goal.

Gazette:

“He’s missed quite a long time through injury and he’s looking good in training – we’re really pleased to have him back.

“Ellis is probably better as a wing-back or can drift inside the pitch as well and play inside the pitch also.”

Kazeem has been missing since mid-October with a knee injury but is now back in full training.

Etherington added: “Al-Amin is probably a little bit further behind in that he was meant to play for the under-21s against Walthamstow in the Essex Senior Cup on Tuesday night but the game was postponed, so he’s not had any match minutes.

Gazette:

“He’s been training now for a couple of weeks and is feeling OK.

“He’ll need to be built up but he’s definitely one that we can use from the bench potentially (against Salford).”