STAR striker Steven Gillespie's hamstring injury is not as serious as first feared, but he is set to miss Colchester United's home game against league leaders Oldham Athletic on Saturday.

Carl Marston

By Carl Marston

STAR striker Steven Gillespie's hamstring injury is not as serious as first feared, but he is set to miss Colchester United's home game against league leaders Oldham Athletic on Saturday.

Club record signing Gillespie, who has struggled with a thigh problem over the last month, hobbled off with a tweaked hamstring after scoring the U's late consolation goal in a 2-1 defeat at Ipswich on Tuesday night.

The ex-Liverpool trainee over-stretched in executing a precise chip over Town keeper Richard Wright, and was immediately treated with an ice pack before leaving for a scan on the troubled hamstring.

Manager Geraint Williams is resigned to being without Gillespie this weekend, and perhaps also again at Millwall in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy next Tuesday evening.

However, the 24-year-old might only miss one league game, especially as the following weekend's scheduled home match against Leicester City has been postponed until the end of this month.

Williams revealed last night: “There's obviously a bit of aggravation in the leg, but it's not a bad one.

“Steven will struggle for the weekend, but hopefully that's all he will miss. It's not as bad as we first thought.

“He will need some time to recover and will be having treatment on the injury,” added Williams, who will be in charge of his 100th league match for the U's on Saturday.

Gillespie has had a stop-start first few months to his Colchester career, following his move from Cheltenham for £400,000.

He scored a hat-trick on his debut, in a pre-season friendly at Heybridge, and also netted a brace on his competitive debut in the opening day 4-2 defeat at Hartlepool.

But he has also been sidelined with a series of leg injuries - he had only been on the pitch for 25 minutes on Tuesday night, before he pulled up again after scoring against Town.

Scott Vernon and Clive Platt are therefore set to continue their partnership up front for the visit of Oldham.

Meanwhile, the U's home game against second-placed Leicester City on Saturday week (September 6) has been put back until the end of the month.

The Foxes will now be in action at the Weston Homes Community Stadium on Tuesday, September 30 (kick-off 7.45pm).

Leicester had asked for the postponement, because three of their players had been selected for international duty that weekend - the trio of Andy King, Nicky Adams and Aleksandar Tunchev.