COLCHESTER United will play their seventh game of a nine-game March, when they entertain sixth-placed Carlisle United tomorrow.

It is a huge game for the U’s, and arguably their biggest of the season.

A win would nudge John Ward’s men to within three points of the play-offs, whereas a defeat would leave them a distant nine points off the top six.

Such a fixture pile-up has forced Ward to put all talk of contracts on hold, even though 15 of his senior squad are out of contract this summer.

The one exception has been Karl Duguid, who yesterday signed a new deal keeping him with the U’s until the end of next season.

Ward explained: “Offers have been made already, to six or seven players.

“But what I’ve decided to do is to leave that alone for this month, because it’s been busy in terms of games. Every day you’re preparing for a game or recovering from another.

“But by the time April comes, we will start looking at that a little closer.”