COLCHESTER United’s inspirational centre-half, Magnus Okuonghae, hobbled off with an ankle injury during the later stages of Friday night’s pre-season friendly against Derby.

However, U’s boss John Ward has revealed that Okuonghae’s injury is not too serious.

“Magnus just took a knock on the ankle when he blocked a shot near the end,” explained Ward.

“He came across and put his body on the line. It just rocked his ankle a little bit.

“But he’ll be fine, I’m sure,” added Ward.

Freddie Sears boosted his goal tally for pre-season to six, with a sweet brace in the 2-2 draw against Derby.

But Ward feels there is little danger of Sears peaking too soon, before the season proper starts with a Carling Cup tie at Yeovil on Tuesday week.

Ward said: “The boys were just saying to me in the dressing room to calm Freddie down a bit, and make sure he doesn’t peak too soon.

“But when you’ve got good players, there isn’t a peak, they just keep going.

“If we can provide chances for Freddie, like we’ve seen this pre-season, then he’ll score goals. And that’s what we want to do.

“He’s a good footballer, but we need to get him the ball.

“We’ve got a player here who can find goals out of really tight places,” concluded Ward.