Ben Gordon was summoned from the wilderness to play a key part in Colchester United’s 1-0 win at Yeovil on Saturday.

Summer signing Gordon had not figured at all, in League One, since a 4-2 defeat at Preston, which had been a long 10 weeks ago.

The 23-year-old left-back had been below-par in that game at Deepdale, but had played in all the U’s first 11 games of the season.

It was certainly a surprise that the ex-Chelsea trainee had been frozen out for so long.

In fact, Gordon had been made available for a loan transfer, before the window closed, although no club had come in for him.

But he marked his return at Huish Park with a strong, no-nonsense display, and was rewarded with a team victory and a clean-sheet.

“Ben played well,” admitted manager Tony Humes.

“I was asked the question a couple of weeks ago about Ben Gordon. I said then that Ben Gordon is still a Colchester United player, and if we needed to play Ben, then we would play him.

“He’s a professional footballer, and that’s his job.

“He probably hasn’t had as much exposure as he would have wanted, and possibly deserved, but he’s come back in and been part of a good team performance.

“That’s what we expect from a Colchester United player.

“I thought the back four were excellent. We had wanted to do different things by bringing younger players in (over the last few weeks), and having a more attacking side to us.

“But it was important that we had a bit of experience in there, to get something out of game (at Yeovil),” added Humes.

Having operated with 18-year-old QPR loanee Cole Kpekawa and Ipswich Town loanee Elliott Hewitt as roving full-backs in recent games, Humes instead turned to club vice-captain Sean Clohessy and Gordon as the full-backs against the Glovers.

Humes explained: “Sean has come back and started the game, Ben has done the same, and credit to them, they were fantastic.

“Yeovil had had two good victories in the last few days. We knew that they were going to be very direct against us, so we needed a bit of strength in there, and to consolidate.”