Mikael Mandron has vowed to bring goals to Colchester United – and repeat the prolific scoring streak he enjoyed at Eastleigh.

The 22-year-old former Sunderland striker made his first U’s appearance as a second-half substitute in their 3-0 friendly win at Braintree Town, after joining them from League One club Wigan Athletic.

Mandron hit the net 15 times in 33 league and cup appearances for Eastleigh in the National League in the first half of last season, prior to leaving them to join Wigan in January.

Now the 6ft 3in Frenchman wants to get back on the goal trial with the U’s, after penning a two-year deal at the Weston Homes Community Stadium.

Mandron said: “I feel like if I can get a good run of games, I can get back to the sort of scoring run I had at Eastleigh and playing well, so hopefully I can do that here.

“I’ll try and bring as much as I can to the team, as well as scoring goals – I always try my hardest.

“The move came around quickly and as soon as I met with the manager and after the talk we had, I wanted it to happen as quickly as possible.

“I didn’t think about dropping down a division – I just want to play football and Colchester is the perfect place to do that.

“I’ve been on loan three times in League Two and since then, I’ve grown and matured and got better so hopefully I can do well.

“I’ve had very good impressions of the squad, so far.

“All of the boys want to play good football and they’re all playing together and pushing each other to be better, so it looks good.”

Mandron played for the final half hour of Colchester’s friendly win at Braintree and is set to get more minutes under his belt when John McGreal’s side host neighbours Ipswich Town in another pre-season fixture, tomorrow night.

“I felt good,” added Mandron, who arrived in England from France as a 16-year-old when he joined Sunderland, in 2011.

“It was my first game in a while and I think that if I can have a couple more games, I’ll be ready.

“I can’t wait until the start of the season now and hopefully we can get some wins and get off to a good start.”