WAYNE Brown will be given ‘every opportunity to succeed’ over the coming weeks after taking over as Colchester United’s new first team head coach.

U’s chairman Robbie Cowling moved swiftly to install Brown on a temporary basis, following the departure of Steve Ball as boss on Tuesday night.

Colchester have stated that they are not seeking any applicants for the vacant head coach role at the JobServe Community Stadium, at this time.

And that will give former U’s promotion winner Brown, who was a strong candidate for the head coach role prior to Steve Ball being appointed last July, an opportunity to stake his claim for the job on a permanent basis, should he be a success in the coming weeks.

In a statement on the U’s website, Cowling said: “I have asked Wayne Brown to take over the role of First Team Coach for the next run of games that see us playing every Saturday and Tuesday for the next few weeks.

“It’s a difficult run of games and I want to give Wayne every opportunity to succeed in those games. Therefore I am not looking for any other applicants at this time.”

Brown’s first game in in interim charge will be Colchester’s trip to play second-placed Forest Green Rovers at the New Lawn on Saturday.

The former centre-back, who has impressed during his spell in charge of Pitching In Isthmian League division north side Maldon and Tiptree, takes over a team that have gone 13 matches without a win in League Two, a run that led to Ball losing his job as U’s boss.

That is followed up with back-to-back home games against play-off chasing Carlisle United and Newport County, before a run of three successive away matches.

Colchester are embarking on a gruelling run of games, at present.

They are currently in a sequence of playing 11 matches in the space of just 35 days.

Cowling added: “It was with massive regret that I made the decision to remove Steve Ball from his role as first team Head Coach.

“Steve has worked tirelessly for the club for the last ten years and he absolutely loves Colchester United.

“Steve is a very good and a very well respected coach and it is a shame that his opportunity to manage the first team has coincided with what has been the most difficult of years for the club.

“If I could have afforded Steve more time to turn things around, I would have done but football is a merciless business and I decided that the only way to steer us out of the current rut was to change the first team Head Coach.”