Lewis Kinsella has vowed to do everything he can in the remaining weeks of the season to try and earn a new contract with Colchester United.

The 22-year-old left-back, whose current deal expires this summer, has recently returned to the U’s first-team squad having missed more than five months of the campaign following ankle surgery.

Kinsella, who joined Colchester on a one-year deal last summer, has not featured for their first team since suffering the injury against Newport County last October.

But he is determined to battle his way back to full match fitness and play a part in their remaining six games of the League Two campaign.

Kinsella told the Daily Gazette: “I hope that I can impress enough to the managers and everyone else at Colchester to get myself a new deal.

“As long as I’m doing everything right and improving my game, I hope that I’ll be in with a chance.

“What will be, will be.

“Anything can happen in football and my aim is to go into next season as fit as possible - hopefully that will be at Colchester.

“The main thing at the moment is that I make sure that I’m right if called upon, in case I am needed.

“I’m just happy to be back out there training and playing and it’s been good to be in and around the first team again, especially when we’re winning.

“It makes you even hungrier to be a part of it.

“The manager has just said keep working your socks off and training hard and that I’m needed, whether you’re in the side, on the bench or in the stands.”

Kinsella was a regular in Colchester’s starting line-up prior to suffering his injury but currently finds his pathway blocked by fellow left-sided players Brennan Dickenson and Matt Briggs.

“It’s difficult to get back into the team at the moment,” said the former Aston Villa youngster, who has made 14 appearances for the U’s so far this season.

“There’s been a formation change and Dicko is filling the left wing-back well and Briggsy is also doing well, so they’re hard players to budge.

“I’ve gone from first choice to third choice but football changes so quickly and it’s good competition.

“I played as a left wing-back when I was on loan at Kidderminster and I’ve also played as a left-sided centre-back.

“I would play anywhere and it’s just about getting into the side.”

Kinsella played for 70 minutes of Colchester’s under-23 Premier League Cup defeat at Portsmouth on Monday night, before coming off due to cramp.

Kinsella added: “The 70 minutes I played at Portsmouth was the longest I’ve played in a match for six months so coming off with cramp was not as bad as I had initially thought.

“I’m as fit as I can be, running-wise but I’m lacking a bit of match fitness.

“I’ve lost quite a bit of weight and body fat and I have to manage myself and do as much as I can to get back.

“The under-23s are a very good group.

“Wayne Brown has got a hungry bunch of players who are really pushing on.

“It helps that the chairman wants the academy to be the best that it can be.

“We did well in the first half and we kept up with them well.

“Portsmouth had a good, experienced side and a lot of them had played first-team games.

“Perhaps had we scored the penalty we might have gone on to win and it might have changed the game.

“But I’m sure Tariq (Issa) will score many goals and many penalties over the course of his career and there’s no blame attached to him.”