Coyne: Pain - What Pain?

Colchester United defender Chris Coyne has admitted he would have been prepared to play through the pain barrier after taking a heavy blow in the U`s defeat against Bristol City.

Coyne took a blow to the head, after a collision with Bristol front-man Dele Adebola, just before half-time on Saturday. The ex-Luton town man never reappeared for the second-half, after being re-assessed by U`s physio Tony Flynn. After Coyne went off, and with John White already injured, the U`s threw away a one goal lead to lose 2-1, as defensive frailties started to emerge.

Coyne told The Colchester Gazette: 'When I hit the floor, I must have hit my head and I started coughing up blood.'

'I thought I would get to half-time and re-assess and I knew that ideally we didn't want to make any more substitutions, with John White having just gone off.'

The Australian centre-half also explained: 'I hate coming off the park but when the physio came over, I couldn't really focus on him.'

'Apparently I burst a few blood vessels and I had a headache all weekend.' He added.

Now Coyne is hopeful of making the U's side for next Saturday's vital game against Wolves: 'But I've taken the paracetamol and hopefully I'll be available for Saturday.'