Alex Gilbey says he realised a dream after captaining Colchester United for the first time in the Football League.

The 20-year-old took the armband against Bristol City last weekend, after regular skipper David Fox missed out through injury.

Gilbey led the U’s to an impressive 3-2 victory over the League One leaders, on his return to the starting line-up following injury.

The Colchester academy product has skippered the club at every age group - and says leading them into battle at senior level was one of his career highs to date.

He said: “I was made up to be captain – it was one of the best feelings I’ve ever had since I started my career.

“There’s a lot to build on and hopefully I can keep the armband and help keep us up.

“When I was younger, I always dreamed of captaining the first team.

“But having come through the youth system here and captained the club at every age group, it was the best feeling in the world leading the boys out there.

“And getting the three points made it even better.”

Gilbey started for Colchester for the first time in nearly three months against Bristol City, having been sidelined with an ankle injury.

The midfielder, who returned as a substitute in the U’s 1-0 defeat against MK Dons last week, admitted playing the entire match against the Robins was a big bonus.

“Last Monday was my first session and I didn’t even expect to be in the squad,” said Gilbey, who has made more than 50 league and cup starts for the U’s since making his senior debut for them in October, 2012.

“That’s the way football is and it was good to get through the 90 minutes without any scares and it’s something to build on.”

Colchester’s win over Bristol City lifted them out of the bottom four in League One for the first time since last November.

Gilbey added: “It was a great result against the table-toppers and what made it even better was knowing we were out of the bottom four.

“The boys were buzzing about that when we got in the changing room and it was a great feeling.

“No-one expected us to get any points but the boys were brilliant.

“We did it the hard way at the end but I think we showed towards the end especially how committed we are to the cause.”

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