COLCHESTER United will assess the extent of the hamstring injury sustained by Callum Harriott in their FA Cup defeat against Marine.

The 26-year-old was withdrawn in the 18th minute of the U’s first-round loss and replaced by Josh Bohui, as they bowed out of the competition to non-league opposition at the JobServe Community Stadium.

U’s head coach Steve Ball said: “Callum felt fine and warmed up fine but he’s done his hamstring.

“We lost a really good player and that one obviously hurt.

“That’s what our squad is there for but it was disappointing to lose Callum.”

Ball, who confirmed that midfielder Ben Stevenson missed the Marine defeat after picking up a slight knock in training in the build-up to the game, has also confirmed that midfielder Tom Lapslie has suffered a minor setback in his recovery from a knee injury.

Lapslie had been nearing full fitness after undergoing knee surgery in the summer but has now experienced a secondary injury.

“Tom’s had a tiny setback,” said Ball.

“It’s nothing major, which is the good news.

“He joined in training and felt a slight niggle on Tuesday afternoon.

“We got the scan through and it was just bone bruising, which is really positive.

“It’s nothing linked to the injury so with bone bruising that’s usually a week or so again, just to let it settle down a bit.

“It’s often the case with injuries like that, you might get a bit of secondary pain but it’s certainly nothing to worry about and it’ll only be around a week hopefully.”

Meanwhile, U’s boss Ball said he was constantly making tactical changes to his side during their defeat to Marine.

Harry Pell cancelled out Anthony Miley’s first-half opener for Marine, who won 5-3 on penalties after the teams could not be separated in normal and extra-time.

Ball added: “If I’m trying to change it four or five times, that alone tells you that something isn’t right.

“We had to continually move people into different positions trying to ignite something, because we were poor.

“If a team isn’t playing well, I’m not going to sit there and let it happen.

“I changed it around four times during the game, trying to ignite something.

“It worked a little bit when we got the equaliser but we didn’t then kick through with the quality.

“We had to try and make something happen and we got back to 1-1 with the shape change but we didn’t really kick on, after that.

“You can’t afford to play like that at any level and you can’t afford to play like that, against a non-league side, especially when you give them a little bit of joy.

“The goal we conceded was poor – it was a poor free-kick to give away and a poor reaction to it, with the ball hitting the post and that summed it up really.

“Even after we scored, we never really pushed on and the quality was way off where it should have been.”