Man mountain Ryan Inniss, so impressive on his Colchester United debut in Saturday’s 3-1 home win over Crawley Town, is predicting big things for his new club.

Centre-half Inniss, on loan for the rest of the season from Crystal Palace, shrugged off a recent knee injury to mastermind the U’s three-man defence against the Red Devils.

Now the 22-year-old, at his seventh different loan club, is looking for another home victory over lowly Chesterfield tonight.

The Spireites were walloped 5-1 at Crewe on Saturday, and Inniss is predicting another difficult night ahead for Gary Caldwell’s side, who were relegated from League One last term.

“I’m so excited about this season,” enthused Inniss.

“I think the club is in a false position. Once you get a run of games, confidence grows, especially in young lads. When we get on a run, I’m sure that we will feel unbeatable.

“Playing like we did in the first half (against Crawley), this club should be at a higher level than this. And we need to rectify that.

“We could have scored five or six goals in the first half, so maybe we could have been a little more clinical.

“But it’s good that the lads came out sharp. I think we can be a real threat to all teams this year.

“It’s a quick turnaround, with the visit of Chesterfield, but we are trying to make this place a fortress and I saw that they lost 5-1 (at Crewe), so what I way to them is – ‘good luck to them, coming down here!’

“We are a young team, and a hungry one.

“Saturday, first half, was one of the best performances in all the teams I have bee involved in.

“We want to mirror that, going forward,” added Inniss.

Inniss relished his new role as a sweeper, a position he could well make his own this season.

He continued: “It’s new to me, playing there, but it saved my legs a little, although perhaps we dropped a little too deep in the second half.

“I have been out for a while, but it was easy for me to come into the team (on Saturday). We have such a good home record, the lads have been upbeat and the gaffer has instilled lots of confidence in them.

“Once we get on a run, teams are not going to want to come here,” added Inniss.