PAUL Reid says he feels like Colchester United’s forgotten man.

The U’s central defender has had another injury setback as he bids to return to action from the broken kneecap that he suffered at Huddersfield at the start of March and doesn’t expect to be back for at least another two months.

It is hugely frustrating for the former Barnsley man.

He knew he would miss the start of the season, but his recovery process was dealt a fresh hammer blow by the news that a cyst was discovered inside the fracture after he felt pain in his knee when he tried to return to training.

Reid said: “I’ve been hit by a bit of a setback as I had a cyst growing in the middle of the fracture, which meant it wasn’t healing properly and I had to have it drilled by a specialist in London.

“He had to put a drill into the fracture to break the cyst up and it has set me back by at least another two months.

“I’m a nightmare at the best of times, but this is by far the longest time out I have had and I’ve had to go right back to square one.

“I tried running and doing a bit of ball work and it was at that point that they discovered the cyst and now I’ve gone back to building the muscle that has wasted away.

“I’m seeing the surgeon in two weeks and hopefully he will give me the all-clear to do bike work and cross-training which will get my fitness improved, but I think I’ve got at least two months to go before I’m back near contention for the team.

“The old gaffer (Paul Lambert) wanted me to have a timescale and we put two months on it, but I have had the setback and it has gone on longer than anticipated so now I’m just trying to say I will be fit as soon as I can.

“I don’t want to put another timescale on it and not be able to meet it.

“I can’t believe it has taken so long as it has turned out to be an eight-month injury.

“When I did it, I didn’t think it was serious.

“It was just in an inoccuous tackle which wasn’t bad from either me or the other player.

“The old gaffer didn’t really release too much news about what was going on with my injury and I felt a bit like the forgotten man.”