Colchester United head coach John McGreal has given one of the club's promising youngsters a chance to train with the first team.

Under-18 winger Andre Hasanally was promoted up to the U's senior ranks at Florence Park last week, in the build-up to their game against Cheltenham Town.

Colchester were last month boosted by the arrival of Ben Stevenson, Abo Eisa and Callum Roberts, prior to the transfer deadline.

But boss McGreal insists there will still be opportunities for the club's academy players to impress.

McGreal said: “We were a little bit stretched before.

“You’ve seen the squad that we’ve had and it’s been excellently backed up by the under-23s.

“A few boys like Louis Dunne have been consistently around it.

“We’ve also had the likes of Andre Hasanally training with us last week because he’s been performing to a good level.

“We still don’t get away from what we do, even though we’ve brought these three new boys in."

Meanwhile, boss McGreal says Junior Ogedi-Uzoke's departure from the club was best for both player and club.

The striker left the U's last week to join SSE Airtricity League side Derry City until June 30.

The 24-year-old had been training with Derry and has now tied up a six-month loan deal with the League of Ireland side, who begin their new season on February 15 against UCD.

Ogedi-Uzokwe returned to Colchester last month following his six-month loan spell with National League side Bromley, where he scored six goals in 25 appearances.

“It was best for player and club," said McGreal.

“Junior needs to be playing games the age he is.

“He didn’t play that many late on at Bromley and was used as a sub, as such.

“We got him back in and around the first team and he was one where we were looking to get a bit of money in, to then bring a couple of players in.

“That’s what we thought was best.

“He’ll now go to get regular football for six months until the end of June which is excellent.

“He’ll get a lot of football in that time and hopefully, he’ll score a lot of goals as well."