Colchester's Flanagan out for 12 weeks with knee injury

Colchester United defender Tom Flanagan will be out of action for at least 12 weeks because of a ruptured medial ligament in his knee.

Flanagan was forced off in the first half of their 3-1 win at Notts County on 22 November, only his third game back after two months on the sidelines with a calf injury.

The 34-year-old has made 56 appearances for Colchester since joining them from Shrewsbury Town in the summer of 2024.

"The good news is it isn't as bad as we feared - we thought it was a cruciate [ligament] when he did it. He's a tough boy and was in a lot of pain," boss Danny Cowley told BBC Essex.

"We've been really unlucky, we've had three medials, or contact injuries: Adrian (Akande), Ellis (Iandolo) and now Tom."

• Cowley gives update on Flanagan injury (BBC Essex Sport)

The club have been told by doctors that surgery is not required but Cowley said: "We'll look to rehabilitate Tom but if we really accelerate the process we're looking at maybe 12 weeks - it's going to be a long-term injury unfortunately."

Flanagan has played more than 430 games - 11 of them this season - in his career, which began at MK Dons.

"He's such a loss for us on the pitch with his leadership, but also off the pitch - he drives standards on a daily basis, always puts his (personal) popularity second, and is always trying to help the young players get better; he'll be a real miss for us," Cowley added.

"We will try to use him in other ways in this 12 weeks because he has a high level of football IQ and has lived a lot of football over the years, so helping the players, helping the coaching staff, we'll try to get our value for money."

Colchester are 10th in the table after winning their last three games and will be at home to Gillingham on Saturday.