Colchester United midfielder Sean Murray admits taking on to his former side Swindon Town will be like facing a new club.

Murray is back from injury and is set to return to the County Ground for the first time since leaving the Robins when the U’s lock swords with their fellow promotion hopefuls, on Friday night.

It is less than a year since the 24-year-old left Swindon to join Colchester, in last season’s January transfer window.

But plenty has changed at the Wiltshire club since Murray left for the Weston Homes Community Stadium, with a number of players departing following their relegation to League Two and David Flitcroft replacing Luke Williams in the hot seat.

Murray said: “Swindon are my old team – I like everyone there and all of the staff but it’s all changed now and it’s pretty much a new club, from when I was there.

“But I’ve still got a few friends there who will be nice to see again.

“I think that was always the aim, to get back for the Swindon game.

“It was always going to be quite tight for the Exeter game at the weekend with only a week of training.”

Colchester are gearing up for a busy schedule in the coming weeks, as they bid to move into the play-off places.

The games will be coming thick and fast but Murray says they will embrace the hectic programme.

“I enjoy playing over the Christmas period,” said the former Watford midfielder.

“You don’t have much time after the games to think about it, so it’s just a case of game after game after game.

“Win or lose, you have another match within a couple of days so that’s the best thing for everyone.

“We’ve had a good couple of months now and it’s really given us the platform to push on from, in the New Year.

“We’ve got players coming back from injury and I think when there’s a lot of games, it’s always good to have a bigger squad to pick from.

“Sometimes, there’s games within a few days of each other and if the manager has more players to choose from in that period, it’ll only help us.”

Murray made his first Colchester appearance for six weeks when he appeared as a second-half substitute in his side’s 3-1 win over Exeter City, last weekend.

He is looking to recapture the kind of form he was showing before his injury, which worsened during the U’s 0-0 draw at Coventry City on October 21.

He added: “When you’re playing, you just want to stay clear of injury.

“Any injury is bad timing but it was especially so because I’d just started scoring goals and getting a few assists, which I’d been saying I’d wanted to do for a long time.

“Hopefully though, I can carry that on now.”