Colchester United boss, Joe Dunne, could well bolster his squad in the face of a potential fixture pile up.

The Irishman is generally happy with the make-up of his squad, especially with the attacking trio of Sanchez Watt, Freddie Sears and Gavin Massey all fighting fit again after long-term injuries.

But with the U’s still having 20 games to play, over the last 12 weeks of the season – they played their first 26 games over 24 weeks – Dunne could well need reinforcements.

The tight constraints of the budget means that Dunne will only consider signing one new loanee, between now and the end of the season, but any additional new face will be most welcome.

“Our fixture schedule is going to be punishing, going into some very important months,” explained Dunne.

“I think you are going to see such a shift in league positions, going into February and March, which might mean we need to add one or two players to bolster the squad.

“It’s very possible, given the hectic schedule. It will be about what we can bring in, though at the moment I am very happy with the squad.

“If I do any business, it will probably be only one player.

“It’s just in one key area, something different to what we already have, because we will be going Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday for a while, against some top teams.”

Any new recruit would be a loan player from a League club, rather than a permanent signing from non-league circles. That comes down to finance.

Dunne confirmed: “I have a main hit-list of players we could afford, which would mean a loan, nothing permanent.

“And it won’t be a loan from non-league, because you would have to pay all his wages, and these clubs are not going to let their best players go.

“Ricardo Santos, who has gone to Peterborough this week (from non-league Thurrock), was a player that we were looking at as well.

“But again it comes down to finances. If you want the best out of non-league, you are going to have to pay for it.

“I did manage to get Dominic Vose from the non-league environment (from Barnet), and Fraser Franks is another one we looked at before he went to Luton (from Welling).

“But we’ve not got the money to pay for these players. It’s not as though we aren’t looking, we just can’t compete.

“As another example, we tried to sign a player last year (from non-league), but he had a job and we had to match his work wages and try to double that. We couldn’t do this, but someone else did.”

The U’s boss has no new injuries, ahead of tomorrow’s visit of promotion-chasing Rotherham.

Josh Thompson and Drey Wright remain the only long-term absentees, and both continue to make good progress from their respective ankle and knee operations.