Colchester keep fingers crossed on Bishop return

Teddy Bishop began his career at Ipswich Town

Colchester United are hopeful that Teddy Bishop will return before the end of the season despite a torn hamstring.

The 28-year-old, who has made 26 appearances this campaign, suffered the injury during last month's 1-1 draw with AFC Wimbledon.

The U's are one of the form sides in League Two, unbeaten in 10 matches under Danny Cowley, but still have a six-point gap to close on the play-off places.

"We're hopeful he'll be back before the season's out, that's certainly the ambition," said Cowley.

"We have everything crossed because he's such an important player for us."

On-loan forward Anthony Scully returned to training on Thursday, having not played since November because of an ankle injury.

"He trained fully with the group which was an amazing bonus for everybody," added Cowley.

"He's such a great kid and so talented. We are really hopeful that we'll be able to see him on the pitch soon.

"If he can, he's just got that little bit of quality in and around the goal to create and score so that could be a real plus for us."

With 12 games left, Cowley said he was happy for his side to be "under the radar" going into Saturday's away game against Cheltenham Town.

Cowley also played down concerns about the state of their own pitch at the JobServe Community Stadium.

The playing surface currently lacks grass in areas while drainage issues have been a concern for several years, to the point the club had to reduce the size of the pitch last term to try and get around them.

Speaking earlier in the week, Cowley told BBC Essex: "The pitch is incredibly difficult, probably the most difficult that I've had to prepare a team for.

"But it's our pitch, and a pitch we are finding good form on, and we are really enjoying playing here."

Striker Lyle Taylor has contributed 12 goals in all competitions this season and said the team were currently "doing our job - no more, no less".

"If nobody else is watching us, that's fine by us," Taylor said. "I don't think any noise from outside our four walls, or our four stands, really matters.

"The road to success is not a straight line, so we have to keep doing what we've done to get to this point - and do more, and better than we've done."