Sammie Szmodics might well have played his last game for Colchester United, but it is a game he will never forget.

The 23-year-old bagged a brace in a fantastic 3-0 win at champions Lincoln City, only for his team to miss out on the play-offs by dint of Newport County’s 87th minute equaliser at Morecambe.

Szmodics has been at Colchester since the age of seven, but at various times in recent seasons he has been linked with a move away from the Community Stadium, and his current contract expires this summer.

“It’s football, and no one knows what is going to happen,” admitted Szmodics.

“It’s been a fantastic 15 or 16 years for me at Colchester. I’ve got a summer to look forward to now, and a break from everything.

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“Then I’m sure my agent and the people at Colchester will be working hard to come to some agreement.

“I will have two or three weeks break from football before I start my plan. I will have to see where I will be doing my pre-season, whether that be at Colchester or elsewhere.”

With reference to Saturday’s win, Szmodics said: “I said to the boys that I don’t think I’ve come off a pitch after winning 3-0 and me scoring a brace, and yet feeling gutted.

“We gave it all we had today. Lincoln had only lost here (at home) once, and we wanted to do the double over them.

“We’ve got to take the positives. We achieved the double over them and have missed out (on the play-offs) by just one goal. We’ve got to reflect. It’s hard to talk now, having just missed out, because we are all so gutted.

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“You don’t really know what’s happening elsewhere, while you are playing out there. The Col U fans have been fantastic all season, home and away, and you could get a sense that we were in (the play-offs), the way they were singing about Wembley and that.

“As players you are just counting down the clock. The fans are still singing and the bench is still vibrant, and then we’ve heard the 9,000 or so Lincoln fans singing about the fact we were 3-0 up and it doesn’t mean anything.

“It felt like a sucker punch but we kept going and we got the double over them.

“There was no pressure on us – we were 23-1 against getting in the play-offs, and yet the first half was the best first-half we have ever had.

“We were extra up for this game. I think that showed and we have beaten the champions 3-0 on their own patch.”