Colchester United sport scientist Stef Russo says they will be monitoring the club’s players more closely in pre-season, in the wake of last season’s injury problems.

The U’s first-team squad report for pre-season fitness testing tomorrow, with several members returning to the fray after long-term injuries.

The likes of Luke Prosser, Kurtis Guthrie, Denny Johnstone, Frankie Kent and Craig Slater will all make a welcome comeback, having been sidelined for a large chunk of the previous campaign.

Colchester expect back all of the players who were out injured at the end of last season apart from Brennan Dickenson, who is likely to be out until around next February with a serious knee injury.

Russo told the Daily Gazette: “Everyone’s in good spirits to get back and work hard after their break.

“It was a long season last year and I think it was a case of putting everything behind us and pushing on for next year.

“The players have been itching to get in and make sure that they’re ready.

“We will monitor the injured boys much closer, because they’ve been out for a long time.

“We try and monitor each player as closely as possible and (head physio) Tony Flynn and I will then make a decision on what is best for that player.

“Sport science moves on quickly and we have to make sure that we do, too.

“Over the course of the off season, it’s a case of reviewing what we did last year and throughout the season which is what we’ve done.

“We were unfortunate with the amount of injuries that we had but the majority of them were freak injuries.

“We have looked back to try and make sure they do not happen again and we are looking to monitor the players much more closely but we’re not trying to change too much.

“Ultimately, a lot of things worked for us last season and what we don’t want to do is go from one end of the spectrum to the other.

“We have to try and do things sensibly.”

Colchester play their first pre-season friendly at Maldon and Tiptree on July 8 and begin the new season at Accrington Stanley, on August 5.

Meanwhile, Colchester’s game at Notts County, scheduled for November 25, has been put back 24 hours.

It will now be played on Sunday, November 26, kick-off 3pm.