New Colchester United man Liam Mandeville is looking forward to kicking on with the U’s after arriving on loan from Doncaster Rovers on transfer deadline day.

The 20-year-old striker, who has scored 15 goals in 63 games for his parent club, is pleased to be out on loan and is eager to get started.

He said: “I got a call about going out on loan on Monday so it was quite a quick turnaround.

“I think I wanted to come out on loan to be honest because I wasn’t really getting the game time I needed at Doncaster so hopefully now, dropping down a level, I’ll get a few more games.”

Mandeville was a key part of the Doncaster side who achieved automatic promotion from League Two last season, so knows that the stakes are high as he joins the U’s for the run-in.

He said: “I know what it’s like to be in a dressing room that’s been promoted so hopefully I can add to the dressing room here.

“Having so many games left in the season was one of the draws of coming here, and having good teams to play as well.

“This division is similar to League One — all the teams are similar and it’s fine margins that either win or lose games.”

The Lincoln-born striker trained with his new team-mates for the first time yesterday and already likes what he’s seen.

He said: “I’ve seen we have a couple of big strikers and I thrive playing off a bigger striker like that. I’m not the biggest physically and I’m not particularly quick but I think quickly, that’s one of the better parts of my game, so I like quick play in and around the box.

“I think finishing is one of my better attributes as well.”

His confidence is something that will be welcome in the U’s dressing room as John McGreal’s side look to pick up their first win of 2018 tomorrow.

Mandeville said: “I think that as of late I’ve been playing quite well so hopefully I’ve come here in good form.”

All-in, the young forward seems very happy to have joined the club.

He said: “I think this will help develop me as a player; a different manager, different coaching staff, you can learn different things.

“It’s a nice stadium and nice set-up here at the training ground too, it’s all really nice. The training facilities here are superb, especially for a League Two club.”

Mandeville has already made a positive impact on Colchester boss McGreal, having impressed in his first training session for the club yesterday morning.

The striker is in the running to make his U’s debut when they take on Newport at the Weston Homes Community Stadium.

McGreal said: “Liam has got good numbers for a young man and he also comes here with a promotion.

“He’s in our thoughts for Saturday.

“He’s trained with us and looks like a very clever, cute player.

“He’s one in three for a 20-year-old in division two football and he’s also played a few games this year and got a couple of goals.

“It’s an area we felt we needed to find someone different.

“We thought that we might lose one in that area as well but that didn’t happen which was great.

“With Liam, Kurtis (Guthrie), Mika (Mandron), and Junior (Ogedi-Uzokwe), we think that we’ve covered all of the forward line.”