FRANKIE Kent admits he was open to a loan move away from Colchester United in a bid to play competitive senior football.

But the U’s central defender says he is now focused on keeping his place in John McGreal’s starting line-up.

Kent, who celebrates his 21st birthday next Monday, is hoping to retain his spot in the Colchester side for tomorrow’s game at Yeovil Town, having made his first-ever league start under McGreal last weekend in the 3-0 defeat against Leyton Orient.

He has experienced a frustrating start to the campaign, having been hampered by a knee injury in pre-season.

It led to Kent being considered for a loan move away from Colchester but having returned to first-team action, the former Arsenal loanee is now determined to stay in the side.

Kent said: “I was open to a loan move because I don’t feel like the under-23 football is something that’s going to help me at this sort of stage where I’ve already played some games.

“I was open to it to just get back to some sort of sharpness and playing men’s football every week, which was something I hadn’t done this season.

“I have to forget about that now but obviously keep working hard.”

Colchester head to Yeovil without a win in nine league matches and have not won for more than two months in League Two.

Nevertheless, Kent says the U’s squad are not feeling sorry for themselves, despite their miserable run.

“The changing room isn’t broken – everyone is still upbeat and positive and it’s the same with the manager and Bally (Steve Ball) and everyone around the place,” said Kent, who has made 44 first-team appearances for Colchester.

“We know we can get out of it but it’s been a tough week with double sessions where we’re working hard to get back to basics.

“We all know how big Saturday is and we’ll all go into it feeling positive and get a result.

“The frustrating thing is that we know how good we are – we showed that at the start of the season.

“We’ve hit a bad patch but everyone knows how good this team can be.

“I feel like it’s going to click but we can say that every week.

“Last Saturday was a bit of a wake-up call to a lot of us in the team but we have to keep working hard and doing the right things in training.

“We seem to go on a run of not being able to win a game and that’s the mentality that we’re trying to get out of.

“Over the last couple of seasons or so, it’s been a bit too easy to say “we lost last week, what’s the difference?” kind of thing.

“I feel like that’s a problem but we’re working hard to change that.”