JOHN McGreal has vowed to utilise his Colchester United squad ahead of tonight’s Checkatrade Trophy clash at Cambridge United.

The U’s head coach has some injury concerns ahead of their final Group B fixture, at the Abbey Stadium.

Colchester will definitely be without leading scorer Luke Norris, who is sidelined with an ankle injury.

And goalkeeper Rene Gilmartin is also unlikely to feature against Cambridge, after suffering a hamstring problem in the FA Cup defeat at Accrington Stanley last weekend.

In addition, defender Tom Eastman will be checked after he went off with a head injury in the opening minutes of the first-round loss.

Colchester know a win against Joe Dunne’s side will send them through to the knockout stages of the competition and boss McGreal is refusing to dwell on their injuries.

McGreal said: “We’re going to utilise our squad and we have another tough game on Tuesday.

“It’s one where we’ll recover, see what the walking wounded are like and then we go again.

“The injuries are a little bit of a blow, with the three in two games.

“We hadn’t had any all season, up until then and it’s now how we react.

“But I’m not going to complain about injuries – I see it as an opportunity for others.

“We had young Noah Chilvers with us (at Accrington) – he’s the latest one to get himself in and around the group.

“Ollie Kensdale has also been in and around it and was cup-tied and the injuries create opportunities for other players.

“That’s why we’ve had these younger players with us, giving them that experience if you like.

“It’s a winner-takes-all type of game and it’s a great one for us to look forward to.”

McGreal rested centre-back Luke Prosser for the Accrington game, only for the U’s skipper to end up playing 90 minutes after replacing the injured Eastman early on.

“The decision to leave Luke on the bench was literally to get other players games,” said McGreal.

“We’ve had a heavy schedule and a lot of travelling of late.

“It didn’t work, because after 40-odd seconds Easty’s come off injured!”

Dillon Barnes is set to be recalled to Colchester’s starting line-up for the injured Gilmartin, after replacing him between the sticks at Accrington.

Boss McGreal is confident that the young keeper can step in and do well, helped by the first-team experience he has already gained so far this season.

McGreal added: “Dillon’s had a good 14 or 15 games and he was comfortable going into it, in the heat of the battle.

“He made a couple of saves (at Accrington).

“They were straight at him to be fair but he had to do what he had to do.

“I thought his distribution was good at times and he’s already played games for us, which makes a difference.”