Drey Wright dedicated his strike to his new son after finally breaking his Colchester United goal drought.

Wright became a father for the first time last Wednesday after his partner Lucy gave birth to a baby boy and finished a memorable week by netting in the U’s 2-2 draw at Port Vale.

It was the 22-year-old’s first goal for Colchester since November, 2016 and Wright said it capped an unforgettable few days in his life.

Wright said: “The goal is for the little man.

“It’s been a really good week for me and one that I’ll never forget; quite stressful and not a lot of sleep.

“We had a long time in hospital over the week but he’s very healthy which is the main thing and we’re very pleased and happy.”

Wright’s strike at Port Vale was his first goal for Colchester since he netted in their 4-0 win over Crewe Alexandra in November, 2016.

The U’s academy product said he was pleased to finally break his duck – but was left disappointed it was not the winning goal following Dave Worrall’s late equaliser at Vale Park.

“It’s a little weight off my shoulders but I haven’t really been thinking about it too much,” said Wright.

“I should have had a lot more.

“I’ve never been a prolific scorer – I’ve only ever scored three in one season and I’m only two off that now, so it’s not really been that big a thing.

“But when it starts to affect points like the last game against Grimsby where I had a few chances and didn’t score, we didn’t win the game and that’s when it becomes a bit of an issue.

“Hopefully that’s changed now.

“It was a good move from us – we got in down the sides, Sammie (Szmodics) ran in behind as he does a lot and he put in a nice ball in and luckily, it went in.

“It ended up going underneath the goalkeeper.

“It was good for me to get my first goal but it would have been a lot better had it got us the three points but that wasn’t to be.”

Wright admitted the Vale draw felt more like a defeat, after they had led for the vast majority of the second half only to concede late on.

He added: “We see it as two points lost – to concede like we did in the last few minutes was very disappointing for all of us.

“We knew that they were going to come at us and they threw a few big lads on and started throwing the ball into our area but we seemed pretty comfortable.

“We seemed to be dealing with it quite well but a lapse of concentration at the other end has ultimately given away our three points.

“It felt like more like a defeat than a draw and with the position that we were in with a 2-1 lead with three minutes ago, we should be coming away with three points which we haven’t done.”