Frankie Kent has welcomed the arrival of fellow centre-half Ryan Inniss, even though the Crystal Palace loanee could be a threat to his position in the Colchester United starting line-up.

East Anglian Daily Times: Kyel Reid, celebrating his goal during the previous home league match against Forest Green Rovers, is a doubt with a hip flexor injury today. Picture: PAGEPIXKyel Reid, celebrating his goal during the previous home league match against Forest Green Rovers, is a doubt with a hip flexor injury today. Picture: PAGEPIX (Image: Pagepix Ltd)

Inniss was one of five players recruited by manager John McGreal on transfer deadline day last Thursday, ahead of the disappointing 1-0 defeat at Cambridge United last weekend.

Signed on loan from Palace for the rest of the season, Inniss did not feature at the Abbey Stadium due to a knee injury, but the 22-year-old will hopefully help to shore up a defence that has so far leaked seven goals in three away games.

“Ryan’s arrival will mean more competition for places,” explained Kent.

“I know Ryan quite well, and hopefully he can come in and bring a good bit of experience to the team. He has played a good deal of football, to be fair, and we know what we will get from him.

“Ryan is a good, strong, solid defender, so I can’t wait for him to be fit and battling for places,” added Kent.

London-born Inniss has yet to make a league appearance for Crystal Palace, although he has been out on loan to six different clubs – Cheltenham, Luton, Gillingham, Yeovil, Port Vale and Southend – with the U’s being his seventh loan club.

But Inniss will have to wait to make his U’s debut, because an ongoing knee injury is set to keep him sidelined for this Saturday’s home match against Crawley, and possibly the following Tuesday’s home fixture against Chesterfield and the trip to Cheltenham the following weekend.

McGreal confirmed: “Ryan (Inniss) is out injured for a couple of weeks. But he will be that man that we really need, at the back, a vocal player with experience. He’s a big lad, and is very competitive.

“He unfortunately got injured on the (last) Tuesday. We were looking to get the deal done in the early part of the week, but then he played for Palace Under-23s and just injured his knee slightly.

“So he will have a little time out,” added McGreal.

Winger Kyel Reid is also struggling with a sore hip flexor.

McGreal reveale: “Kyel hadn’t trained all last week but then passed himself fit for the Cambridge game. It was a blow to us that he didn’t last longer (than 52 minutes), and a blow to him.”