SAM Hornby has got the regular football he has been craving after leaving Valley Parade.

Hornby made his move to Colchester permanent in the summer once Mark Hughes made it clear that he was not part of his goalkeeping plans.

And the 27-year-old has quickly nailed down his spot in the U’s goal in the opening month of the season.

Wayne Brown has picked Hornby for all four games so far – and he produced a man-of-the-match display in Saturday’s defeat at Stockport.

Colchester went down to a second-half header and boss Brown admits they need to tighten up at dealing with crosses.

He said: “We need to find the recipe, with the players that we have at our disposal and we need to find that, going into Tuesday’s game.

“It’s League Two and there’s not going to be much, in games of football.

“It’s so tight and there are fine margins.

“It was 1-1 against Carlisle and 3-2 against Northampton away, in the 89th minute.

“There isn’t going to be much in games but it’s down to us as a collective to have that belief, to have that buy in, that solidarity for 100 minutes.”

Worryingly, Colchester failed to register a single shot on target at Edgeley Park – with just two efforts at goal in total.

Brown's options are also limited with a lengthy injury list that includes key midfielders Cole Skuse and Alan Judge.

New signing Charlie Owens could be pushing for a start after being named on the bench following his loan arrival from QPR on Friday.

Colchester's 3-0 victory over City on Easter Monday was their biggest in the league last season as they finished the campaign with three wins out of four to comfortably banish fears of being dragged into a relegation scrap.

They lost Brendan Wiredu to Fleetwood and goalkeeper Shamal George to Livingston over the summer.