Courtney Senior is now knocking on the first-team door, and pushing for a first-ever League Two start, after his impressive cameo performance during last weekend’s 3-1 defeat at Wycombe.

Senior looks certain to retain his place in Colchester United’s squad, for tomorrow’s visit of struggling Grimsby Town, and will no doubt be eying up the left-sided role currently vacated by Kyle Reid.

The 20-year-old ex-Brentford trainee has caught the eye of manager John McGreal, especially as he has now put all his injury woes behind him – he missed the whole of the 2016-17 season with a knee injury.

Senior crowned his first U’s appearance with a tap-in goal, as an 85th minute substitute during the 5-1 home win over Forest Green Rovers on August 26, but he then suffered another injury setback that has kept him out of the League Two picture until the new year.

“Courtney has come into the fold and done well,” enthused McGreal. “He can do the left wing role, as he showed last week (at Wycombe), so he is in our thoughts.

“We have been waiting on Courtney. He has been out for a year (knee surgery in August, 2016) and has had a couple of niggles from when he played earlier in the season.

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“But now he has a had a good run of games for the under-23s and has had no reaction to his hamstring or anything like that. He is now training particularly well.

“He is definitely in my thoughts. He can play in various positions – he can play out wide right or wide left, or drop into the No. 10 role.

“Courtney has trained with us (the first-team squad) for the last two weeks, coming up from the under-23s, and he has got to know the lads.

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“Last week gave him a ton of confidence, being involved in a first team game, having an impact, and also not being injured, as opposed to that Forest Green game when he came on and tweaked his hamstring,” added McGreal.

Senior’s emergence gives McGreal an alternative to Drey Wright on the left-side, especially as Reid’s loan deal from Coventry expired last weekend and any thoughts of him returning to the U’s have been put on hold by his current three-match suspension.