The early signs for Colchester United skipper, Magnus Okuonghae, are not encouraging following today’s 1-0 home defeat to Coventry City.

Okuonghae injured his Achilles tendon during the closing minutes of this afternoon’s League One clash, which was decided by Gary Madine’s 74th minute close-range winner.

The experienced centre-half was eventually stretchered off to the dressing room, a sad sight for U’s fans.

“It’s not looking good,” revealed manager Tony Humes.

“It looks a bad one. It’s an Achilles injury and it doesn’t look good, even though it was only an innocuous challenge.

“It’s something else for us to look at, because we don’t have that many options at centre-half, especially as Frankie Kent will be out for four to six weeks, at the very least, and possibly longer.

“It’s so disappointing for Magnus, and you have got to feel for him.

“But at least we have a few more days, before the loan transfer window closes, to assess the situation and our resources,” added Humes.

With reference to the game, Humes said: “It was a poor performance and a poor afternoon for us. We didn’t work their goalkeeper at all.”