Colchester lose new signing Perry with ACL injury

Ben Perry joined Colchester from Nottingham Forest on a three-year deal

Colchester United midfielder Ben Perry is set to miss the rest of the season after suffering a serious knee injury.

The 20-year-old ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and suffered other damage in the knee early in the 2-0 win at Shrewsbury Town last Saturday.

It was only his fourth appearance for the U's after joining them from Nottingham Forest last month for an undisclosed fee.

"We've had the awful news that he's ruptured his ACL and also ruptured his medial knee ligaments," boss Danny Cowley told BBC Essex.

"There's definitely some internal damage there, so that will mean an op, which will rule him out for the season."

Colchester are also without defender Ellis Iandolo and forward Will Goodwin because of injuries and are looking to add more new faces before the end of the transfer window.

"When you lose three key players, it's going to hurt and the team is going to suffer," added Cowley.

The U's lost at home to Cambridge United on Tuesday and have taken five points from their opening four League Two games.

"If you look at it with context, you see a group that worked really hard against a heavyweight in this division, a really good team," Cowley said.

"We took them all the way. When you do that against a backdrop of the (takeover) uncertainty we've had in the summer, the reduced finance that we have and three key injuries - if you put context to it, you'll understand why we feel there's a lot of things we did well."

Colchester are next in action at home to Barrow on Saturday.