Brandon Comley did not think twice about signing for Colchester United on a permanent basis, following his initial loan stint from Championship club QPR.
Midfielder Comley has put pen to paper on a two-and-a-half-year deal, which will kept him at the Weston Homes Community Stadium until the summer of 2020, after his loan stay expired in the wake of last weekend’s 3-1 defeat at Wycombe Wanderers.
“I’m really excited to sign, and can’t wait to play my first game as a Colchester United player,” enthused Comley, following yesterday’s training session at Florence Park, Tiptree.
“I’d really like to help the club push on now.
“It was a process that was ongoing for quite a while. I just had to wait for things to pan out and come to fruition. It’s all done now.
“There wasn’t really a future for me at QPR, and it was about time that I flew the nest.
“That’s what I wanted to do, because I needed to better my career elsewhere, away from QPR.
“I want to play at a higher level again, but my focus is doing well at this level with Colchester, and working my way back up, hopefully with this team.
“There were one or two other clubs (interested), but I was very comfortable here, at Colchester. I have been playing regularly, and there’s a good group of players.
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That’s why it was an easy decision for me to make, when the offer was put to me,” added Comley.
A product of QPR’s Academy, Comley had been at Loftus Road since the age of nine, although he only ever made two league appearances for the West London club, both as a substitute.
Away from QPR, he impressed in loan spells at Carlisle United (13 games in the first half of 2016) and at Grimsby Town (35 appearances last season).
And he has net looked back since establishing himself in the U’s first team,in mid-September, following his arrival on transfer deadline day (August 31, 2017).
Now he wants to re-ignite the U’s promotion push, which has suffered a slight setback over the last fortnight with back-to-back defeats at the hands of Cheltenham Town (4-1) and at Wycombe.
“It’s obviously a goal of mine, and of the team, to get back into a position to push for promotion,” insisted Comley.
“We want to keep the run going that we had, before our last two matches.
“A good performance this weekend can see us push back up the table, towards the play-offs and ultimately promotion, and to be honest I can’t see Grimsby taking points off us.
“Every team suffers a wobble, at this level, and we still created some good chances at Wycombe.
“We’ve got to make sure that we take these chances, when they come around, especially early on in games when we start so well.”
There is a touch of irony that Comley’s first match, as a fully-fledged U’s player, should be at home to his former club Grimsby tomorrow afternoon.
“I’ve played against Grimsby already this season, so it won’t affect me,” continued Comley, with reference to the 2-2 draw at Blundell Park from late September.
“The edge has already been taken off, with that first meeting.
“We were very solid at the back, during our good run (just two defeats in 17 league matches), and I’m sure we can back to that again.
“It certainly doesn’t worry me that we are a young team. Most of these lads have had a chance to play a lot of games at League Two level.
“I haven’t played as many games, because it’s often all about timing at clubs, and I found it hard to get games at QPR.
“Although I have left, QPR will always be a part of me, because they basically taught me to play football.
“But I feel that I now have to grow up, as a player, rather than just be static in my career, hence the move to Colchester.
“I believe this is an exciting new chapter in my career, and it’s great to see some of the injured players come back into the team, like Kurtis Guthrie and Luke Prosser.
“They are like having two new signings at the club.
“We are ready to snap straight back into it, after last weekend’s defeat. I can’t wait for Saturday,” added Comley.
Islington-born Comley has so far rattled up 23 senior appearances for the U’s, 21 of these in League Two with 17 league starts.
His former club, Grimsby, visit tomorrow on the back of a four-match losing streak. In fact, the Mariners have only taken two points from a possible 21 in their last seven fixtures.
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