Colchester United interim head coach Wayne Brown says on-loan Blues forward Armando Dobra still has a part to play with the U’s this season, despite not having featured in the first team for more than a month.
The 20-year-old joined the League Two side on loan in August but has made only 13 starts - seven in the league - and four sub appearances, scoring twice.
Dobra last featured in the Papa John’s Trophy defeat at Sutton United on January 4th with his last league appearance having come at Crawley Town on New Year’s Day, both prior to Brown taking over from sacked former boss Hayden Mullins on January 19th, and has only been on the bench once since then.
Following a busy January transfer window, Dobra is one of six loanees at the JobServe Community Stadium with only five permitted in a matchday squad.
However, Brown says the Albania U21 international, who played for Colchester’s U23s against the Blues last week, is still in his thoughts for inclusion during the remainder of the season.
"Armando definitely has a part to play,” the one-time Town centre-half told the Colchester Gazette.
"We’ve been active in the window, created a squad that’s good enough and big enough to give us a bit of strength in depth and everyone will be needed. Games come thick and fast but we’ve been very active in the window.
"We’ve tried to create an environment where there’s competition for places, good strength in depth and we’re going to need all of the players through not just through this month but the remainder of the season.”