COLCHESTER United’s on loan striker David Mooney is hoping he will have more opportunities to play as a deeper lying forward.

The 25-year-old Irishman – who is on loan from Championship club Reading until January – has been utilised largely at the tip of a three-pronged attack so far this season.

However, he admits that he has felt increasingly isolated in that role of late and felt he had far more of an impact during last week’s 2-1 home win over Notts County.

U’s boss John Ward brought on powerful striker Kayode Odejayi as the target man in the 38th minute of that game, a move that allowed Mooney to drop into an attacking midfield position.

The result was that Mooney suddenly looked a constant threat with the ball at his feet, while Odejayi netted two headers late on to seal the comeback victory.

“The change worked well for us,” said Mooney, who has scored five goals in 15 games for the U’s so far.

“When Kayode came on it gave me license to drop deeper and get on the ball which I enjoy. Playing up front on my own has become more and more difficult as the weeks have gone by because teams have obviously watched the way we have been playing. At times maybe I have been a little isolated.

“Anyone who has watched me over the past 12 months will know I just want to get on the ball and play. Last year at Charlton Phil Parkinson played Deon Burton up front as the main striker with me playing behind him almost as a fifth midfielder.

“And when I dropped deeper in the second half last week I felt I had far more influence on the game, I was suddenly able to play forward passes rather than sideways balls all the time.”

He added: “The manager has got a difficult decision now because it’s going to be hard to leave Kayode out. Whatever he decides though I will respect. If it means I stay where I was then that’s fine and if I’m moved out to one of the wide roles and I have to do a bit more defending then that’s no problem either. I accept that sometimes you have to put a shift in for the team.

“To be honest I’m one of those players that goes home and thinks about things that happened in a game a lot and maybe at times I over analyse things.”

– For full interview, including Mooney’s thoughts on extending his loan deal at Colchester, see today’s EADT.