Brandon Hanlan celebrated his first-ever start, in the Football League, with a well-worked goal in Colchester United’s 2-1 home defeat to Wycombe on Saturday.

The 20-year-old Charlton loanee was “buzzing” after marking his full debut with such a sweet strike, but his 43rd minute equaliser was not enough to earn the U’s anything from the game.

“I thought the boys, we did well, and we are unlucky to come away with no points at all,” rued Hanlan.

“I thought we dug deep, and I’m happy to have contributed with a goal, but obviously we should have scored more.

“Unfortunately, their keeper (Scott Brown) was unbelievable today. We were definitely unlucky.”

Hanlan had bagged his first goal in the Football League, with a late equaliser on his U’s debut as an impact substitute in a 1-1 home draw against Chesterfield, just 10 days earlier.

He was rewarded with his first start on Saturday, with target man Mikael Mandron serving a one-match ban and fellow striker Nicke Kabamba relegated to the bench.

Referring to his goal, Hanlan said: “It was an instinctive finish from me. Whenever you are in-and-around the box, you’re always thinking about shooting.

“So as soon as Drey (Wright) played me in, I just hit it first-time. It was a good finish, in the top corner.

“I’m always happy to score, and I’ve now scored two goals in three appearances for Colchester, which is why I am here – to play games and score goals.

“I want to score as many goals for the team as I can, so that we get as many points as possible, and I’d love a run in the starting line-up. I want to start games, like any other footballer.

“Now we’ve got to take this (form) into our away games.

“Their keeper definitely kept them in the game, and I don’t know how he did it to stop me scoring a second goal.

“That was my first professional start, and I’m buzzing to get a goal, so I can’t complain. It’s just sad that we lost, but we will be on it on Tuesday (away at Grimsby), working extra hard for this game.

“We are not far away from clicking, sooner or later we will take it out onto match-day and start getting some wins,” added Hanlan.