Colchester United boss John McGreal says he wants to extend Tarique Fosu's loan period for longer.

Fosu's temporary stint at the Weston Homes Community Stadium from Championship side Reading is due to come to an end next week.

But the U's want to keep the winger, who came off the bench to score in their 4-2 win at Stevenage yesterday, for longer.

McGreal said: “He’s played a little bit of a minor part of late, because of the change in formation but he’s a quality player.

“The option is up for him to either return to Reading or stay with us.

“We’ll be looking to try and do something with Tarique to see where we go and we’ll have a good conversation with him.

“(U's assistant manager) Steve Ball earmarked him late on because he came on and effectively changed the game, with his little bit of freshness."

Fosu has made 14 league and cup appearances for Colchester since joining them on loan from Reading in August, scoring three times.

Glen Kamara's loan from Arsenal is also due to finish next week but the midfielder's future is less clear.

He was an unused substitute for the U's at Stevenage but the Finland under-21 international has started only three games since moving to the Weston Homes Community Stadium, in August.

Meanwhile, U's boss McGreal confirmed that Craig Slater's absence due to illness contributed to striker Macauley Bonne being unable to force his way onto the substitutes bench for the Stevenage game.

Slater's absence meant Drey Wright was promoted from the bench into the starting line-up and McGreal said he wanted to have additional cover in midfield, after bringing Kamara in as one of the Colchester substitutes.

Bonne watched the U's win at Stevenage with the Colchester fans at the Lamex Stadium, along with injured duo Luke Prosser and Lewis Kinsella.

“I want that competitive squad," added McGreal.

“With a midfielder coming out in Craig Slater, I felt as though I needed Glen (Kamara) to come in and to fill that position there as a central midfielder because we’re thin in that area.

“Unfortunately, that meant that Macca missed out at the moment."