Richard McKinney will get another chance in goal as Colchester United open their quest for LDV Vans Trophy glory at Cheltenham Town.

Starting between the stricks for U's - Richard McKinney

And there will be another new face in the U's squad at Whaddon Road tonight.

Bristol Rovers striker Justin Richards, a £75,000 buy from West Bromwich Albion only 22 months ago, has joined the U's on a month's loan in a swap deal with joint record-signing, £50,000, Adrian Coote.

An almost forgotten man at Rovers last season, 22-year-old Richards managed just one appearance, from the substitutes' bench, at Mansfield and went out on short spells to Newport County and Swindon.

Pirates boss Ray Graydon and U's chief Steve Whitton are both allowing their loanee players to become cup-tied.

Meanwhile, McKinney, who played in the opening ten League and cup games of the season, gets another outing between the sticks because Whitton is resting his current number one Simon Brown.

"I did the same for Simon last season when I brought him in for Andy Woodman at Reading, so I don't think he will worry about it," said Whitton.

"It also gives me a chance to keep Richard very much involved."

The U's boss, meanwhile, is very keen to keep the 'winning habit' going after last Friday night's 2-0 home win over Chesterfield.

He said: "I want to carry on where we finished off on Friday. This trophy is very important to us.

"It's our FA Cup. It's already taken us to Wembley once."

But he is aware that although Cheltenham are sitting on the bottom of the Second Division they will not be pushovers.

He said: "They gave us a very hard game at Layer Road in the League recently."

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Published Tuesday October 22, 2002

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