TALENTED winger Mark Yeates will be back at Layer Road this season - but he won't be wearing a Colchester United shirt!Yeates was a vital cog in the U's promotion success story of last campaign, starring in 44 of the U's 46 league games during his season-long loan spell from Tottenham.

By Carl Marston

TALENTED winger Mark Yeates will be back at Layer Road this season - but he won't be wearing a Colchester United shirt!

Yeates was a vital cog in the U's promotion success story of last campaign, starring in 44 of the U's 46 league games during his season-long loan spell from Tottenham.

Yesterday, the Dubliner again departed White Hart Lane on a season-long loan, but this time he chose to join up with former U's boss Phil Parkinson at Hull City, rather than return to his old haunt at Colchester.

Yeates, a creator of goals from his role on the left wing, is therefore set to make an appearance at Layer Road on Tuesday, November 28, when Hull are the visitors. That promises to be a big night!

“Of course, we would have liked Mark Yeates back at the club. We made the necessary telephone calls,” revealed U's boss Geraint Williams last night. “But it was no secret that he wanted to go to Hull. We knew it was coming.

“Everyone is wanting to know when we are going to sign some new players, but I'm not just going to sign someone for the sake of it. I would urge patience.

“We are looking at every possibility at the moment. The players we bring in must add something to the squad. Although we have lost our first two games, the performances have been good and I'm not going to suddenly change things.

“I'm sure that the results will follow. We will keep persevering. It would be foolish to go away from what we believe in,” added Williams.

The U's have been unlucky not to get off the mark in their first ever season in the Championship, following a 2-1 defeat at promotion favourites Birmingham City last weekend, and a 1-0 home defeat by Plymouth Argyle on Tuesday night.

While Williams' men are entertaining Barnsley tomorrow, Yeates could be making his Hull debut against visiting Derby County, although he is struggling for match fitness at the moment following a recent hernia operation.

Yeates said: “To be honest, there was a lot of talk about me coming to Hull permanently over the summer.

“Then the manager at Tottenham decided that he didn't want to sell me, so they came to the conclusion of me coming here (Hull) on loan for the season.

“Obviously I know the gaffer (Parkinson) well from last season. That makes it seem like a sensible move. He knows what I can do on the pitch, as well as knowing what I am like as a lad,” added Yeates.

Ironically, one of only two league games that Yeates missed last season was Colchester's promotion-clinching visit to Yeovil Town on the final day of the campaign.

The 21-year-old was so delighted to score a crucial goal in the U's 2-0 victory over Rotherham, in the final home game, that he dislocated his shoulder in the goal-celebrations with an over-adventurous dive onto the hard ground. That kept him on the sidelines, so requiring an early return to Tottenham for treatment.

Yeates only scored five goals for the U's, but that included a stunning brace in the precious 2-0 win at Brentford on New Year's Eve. In the final analysis, the U's ended up pipping the Bees to the second automatic promotion slot by just three points.