Brennan Dickenson says his head won’t be turned as he keeps his focus on helping

Colchester United

to secure promotion from League Two this year.

The 24-year-old, who joined the U’s from Gillingham last summer and scored his tenth League Two goal of the campaign in their 2-0 win against Mansfield Town on Tuesday, was the subject of a bid from Championship side Ipswich Town during the January transfer window.

That approach was rebuffed by Colchester and while Dickenson admits he was aware of the Blues’ attentions, he insists he won’t let any speculation about his position deflect his focus from the U’s promotion campaign.

He said: “It was very much on the backburner (with the Ipswich bid) and I knew there was interest.

“But I’m focusing on where I’m at now and I’ll give 100 per cent until the end of the season and that’s the sort of attitude that I have.

“Colchester will get everything out of me until the last minute of the last game.

“It’s always nice to have interest but I’m here to do a job for Colchester and that’s what I’m going to do.”

U’s head coach John McGreal knows how important Dickenson is within his squad and expects more goals to come from him.

“Brennan’s contracted and it’s going to take a big thing for people to come and knock on the door” said the Colchester boss.

“Ipswich tried to do that in January.

“Brennan didn’t have a club in the summer so he’s come to us and we’ve looked after him.

“We’ve pushed him and played him every week and we’ve also got him in a different wing-back role which he hasn’t done before where he’s developed. His stats are off the wall this season and the thing is, you know what he’s got.

“You have to play to his strengths and he loves taking defenders on and he has a hammer of a left foot.

“We haven’t been able to get that little bit of supply to him of late so we tweaked the system a little just to try and find that more of the ball and it worked, particularly in the first half (against Mansfield).

“If he’s not scoring goals, he’s supplying. We’ve still got nine games left and I’m sure he’ll be looking to finish as leading scorer, where there’s good competition.”

See more reaction and a special look at the U's promotion run-in in today's Daily Gazette