AIDY Boothroyd says Colchester United fans shouldn't read too much into his decision to drop Kevin Lisbie to the bench against Gillingham.

Stuart Watson

By Stuart Watson

AIDY Boothroyd says Colchester United fans shouldn't read too much into his decision to drop Kevin Lisbie to the bench against Gillingham.

The 31-year-old striker admitted last week that he would be interested in a move to League One rivals Southampton, but the possibility of that move fell through when the Saints signed Southend's Lee Barnard instead.

U's boss Boothroyd was quick to quash any conspiracy surrounding his star loan man though, who almost won it late on when his header was tipped onto the bar.

“I'd like to be manager of Real Madrid but people don't have a go at me for that,” he said. “Southampton are a big club and I'm thrilled he's ambitious.

“It's a long season, he's had a few knocks and at this time of year the last thing I want is to lose a player for a period of time.

“It was more a case of resting Kevin, rotating and looking at what we thought might be successful against them.”

Boothroyd was busy week in the transfer market last week as he brought in full-backs Christian Ribeiro and Morten Knudsen and sent three players out on loan.

But the U's boss admits he might not be finished there as the end of January becomes ever closer. When asked if there would be any more arrivals at the Weston Homes Community Stadium, he said: “Possibly. I've hit the post a lot of times with a couple of things, but I'm possibly looking at bringing in another central midfield player.

“With the pitches the way they are and the games coming up thick and fast, I think it's important we get some depth.”

Meanwhile, Boothroyd was left more than satisfied with his side's 0-0 draw at Priestfield following the two nightmare results that preceded it.

He said: “After the last couple of games we had to get back to basics defensively. We got a clean sheet and I thought that was really important.

"It would have been great to nick three points, but with 20 minutes to go I was thinking that 0-0 was alright. Overall I thought it was a very even game and a fair result for both teams.

"We've got back to what we do, getting one point away from home, and now we'll try to get three points at home on Tuesday (against MK Dons).”