Colchester United head coach John McGreal believes the injury problems they have suffered have helped to galvanize his squad.

The U’s currently have a dozen players sidelined, with first-team regulars Kurtis Guthrie, Craig Slater and Frankie Kent ruled out for the rest of the season.

Despite their crippling injury list, Colchester head into their big home clash with fellow promotion-hopefuls Portsmouth this weekend just three points off the top seven, in League Two.

A total of five U’s academy players were on the Abbey Stadium pitch at the end of their 1-1 draw at Cambridge United last weekend and despite the lengthy list of absentees, boss McGreal says he still has a good mixture of youth and experience.

McGreal told the Daily Gazette: “Have the injuries galvanized the group? I think they have.

“We’ll only know with the results but I can’t knock the performances, which have been excellent.

“The club as a whole is in a great position.

“The team we finished with (at Cambridge) are young, vibrant and have lots of energy and they also have that experience which we didn’t have earlier in the season with players like George Elokobi, Owen Garvan and Ports up front.

“There’s a nice blend and we have a young, tight group. We have a bit of experience and when things aren’t working out, we can tweak the system and still play good football.

“It’s all to play for and there are great games coming up and we have to enjoy it.

“We have home games coming up now against top-seven teams (Portsmouth on Saturday and Mansfield Town next Tuesday), so let’s see if we can do it together.

“We have a great game this weekend and I think Portsmouth have nearly sold out their allocation.

“We’re got good home gates coming up, so it’s all to play for.

“We’ve got a good week’s training now and it’s not like in February where we had Saturday-Tuesday.

“We’ll have a bit of rest but also a good bit of training for another big game on Saturday.”

Meanwhile, boss McGreal says he has been pleased with the maturity teenage defender Cameron James has shown since coming into Colchester’s starting line-up.

The 19-year-old was impressive in the U’s 1-1 draw at Cambridge last weekend, his fourth successive apperarance in the first team.

Prior to featuring against Wycombe Wanderers last month, academy product James had not started a senior match for Colchester.

But he has performed well as one of the U’s three centre-backs over recent games, earning praise from McGreal.

McGreal added: “Cameron James was unbelievable again, for a young lad who has only just turned 19.

“He was out on his feet and he came across for a couple of gels and the next minute, he’s sprinting in the corner, makes a tackle and you think “wow”.

“He showed great maturity for a young man.”