Cameron James relished his battle with Wycombe Wanderers’ man mountain, Ade Akinfenwa, during Tuesday night’s 1-0 win at the Community Stadium.

The 19-year-old centre-half marked his full senior debut with an impressive display in a four-man defence, topped by a clean-sheet as Colchester United leapt up to seventh in the League Two table.

Academy product James was told that he would be starting at the start of the week.

“I think it was better to find out earlier that I was playing, to be honest,” insisted James.

“It gave me a chance in training yesterday (Monday) to get a partnership with George (Elokobi), Richard (Brindley) and Matt Briggs. I could get my head around it.

“When I saw that Akinfenwa was on the team-sheet, my pulse-rate did go up a little bit, with his size and his reputation, but it was good for a young player like me to play against him. It gave me something to look forward to, in a big game.”