Luckless Doug Loft could be set for another spell on the sidelines after injuring his right shoulder in Colchester United’s win over Lincoln City last night.

The experienced midfielder was forced off in the closing stages of the first half of the U’s 1-0 win over the Imps, at the Weston Homes Community Stadium.

Loft has been a regular in Colchester’s starting line-up over the last two months, having missed almost the whole of last season through injury.

The U’s will assess the extent of his injury today but head coach John McGreal admits there are concerns that he might be out again, after his misfortune continued.

McGreal said: “Lofty went off and was doing a good job.

“It looks like he’s got a shoulder problem, so we’ll have to keep assessing that.

“It looks as though he could be out but we have people who can affect it.”

Loft was replaced by Brandon Comley against Lincoln, after he was one of two players to drop to the bench following Colchester’s 0-0 draw with Morecambe last weekend.

The QPR loanee played his part in the U’s win over Lincoln and earned praise from McGreal for his performance, in central midfield.

“It was a case of out of the frying pan into the fire for Comms (Brandon Comley) to come straight in and he’s had to adapt to it very, very quickly but I thought he and everyone else was excellent,” said McGreal.

“It was tough that he didn’t start but it wasn’t a case of him being left out.

“It was a case of moving people around with Brandon missing out.

“He did nothing wrong on Saturday (against Morecambe) but that goes with that competition for places.

“Brandon knows that when he goes on, he’s ready and he goes and gets his job done and that’s the type of player he is.

“We’ve got strength on the bench and we’re able to make that happen, with the likes of Craig (Slater), Kins (Lewis Kinsella) and Sanmi (Odelusi) not making an appearance, so we have got that strength to move things around.”