COLCHESTER United striker Luke Norris is in ‘good spirits’ as he prepares to meet the surgeon again tomorrow to establish the full extent of his ankle injury.

The U’s leading scorer is facing a spell on the sidelines after being stretchered off just before half-time in their 1-0 win over Swindon Town, last weekend.

Norris was taken straight to hospital after suffering the injury to his left ankle, which occurred when he went down off the ball during the League Two clash at the JobServe Community Stadium.

The 25-year-old, who has bagged eight goals for the U’s so far this season, has been resting the injury this week.

However, Norris was at the club’s Florence Park training ground in Tiptree today, ahead of his meeting with the surgeon.

Colchester head coach John McGreal said: “He’ll see the surgeon again tomorrow and we’re waiting for it to settle down.

“He’s been back in today and he’s in good spirits.

“But we don’t want to tempt fate.

“The Achilles is fine and seems to be more to do with his ankle.

“It’s settling quite well and he seems to be happier, so it’s good news at the minute.

“He needed gas and air and he was in such a lot of pain.

“He went down with no-one around him and you do fear the worst.

“It’s settled down quite well – he’s been away from the building for three or four days just to try and rest it up and we’ll know a lot more tomorrow.

“Tony Flynn is expecting a phone call tomorrow afternoon when we’re on our way to Accrington and then we can start putting a timescale on it.

“But Luke seems really confident – he’s a really confident lad anyway to be fair.

“We don’t want to be tempting fate though so once we get the phone call from the surgeon tomorrow, we’ll know more about it.”

Norris will definitely miss Colchester’s game with Accrington Stanley in the FA Cup first round tomorrow.

But the U’s will keen to get their leading scorer back sooner rather than later, with key League Two games against the likes of Newport County, Exeter City and Forest Green Rovers on the horizon.