THEY say out of adversity comes opportunity.

And for Luke Hannant, that seems especially true.

Both illness and injury have threatened to derail the winger's first season for Colchester United.

So it is to the 28-year-old's credit that with a few weeks of the campaign remaining, he is arguably producing his best form for the club so far.

Nevertheless, Hannant says there is still plenty more to come.

“I’ve obviously not hit the heights I reached last year unfortunately," said Hannant, who joined Colchester from Cambridge United on a two-year deal, last summer.

“I think it’s just been a stop-start season for me, picking up Covid a few times and then I was ill last week as well.

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“I’m back fully fit now; I’m surprised I got through as much as I did last Saturday to be fair, with the game like it was.

“There were a few of us that were quite tired towards the end but to give all I can in every game is what I want to do now, for the rest of the season.

“Then I can come back fresh and just pray that I have an injury and illness-free season where I can really show the best of me.

“I work really hard in the off season and I always come back really fit.

“I met the lads for the first time and settled in really well, was enjoying it and doing quite well in the pre-season games.

“Then I was hit with Covid which is no fault of anyone.

“It’s just one of those things unfortunately and I’ve had to battle against a lot of adversity this season.

“I want to finish the season well and come back stronger, next season.

“It’s how you deal with the problems you face and luckily, there’s people around me who keep me positive when I go through tough times.

“They keep me concentrated and remind me of how good I am, the things that I’ve achieved and the things that we can achieve together as a club.

“They’re the kind of people that you want to surround yourself with and keep yourself in the circle and realise that the end goal is trying to achieve those things, within the group.”

Hannant has made 31 league appearances for Colchester so far, a figure surpassed only by Luke Chambers, Cole Skuse and Freddie Sears for the club this season, to date.

But one thing is still missing for the former Port Vale man - goals.

“If I keep getting myself into those positions, then one’s got to drop for me," said Hannant, who came close to netting in the first half of the U's 1-0 win over Tranmere Rovers, last weekend.

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“I know myself that I’ve not scored this season and I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself.

“But obviously coming from last season where I contributed quite a bit with goals, it’s something that I wanted to do this season.

“But I’ve had a few setbacks which has sorted my progression this season and now I’m playing in more of a forward role under the new gaffer, which has allowed me to get forward more and get more goalscoring opportunities so hopefully something will come soon."

Hannant was recalled to Colchester's starting line-up against Tranmere, having missed their defeat against Forest Green Rovers, due to illness.

He is hoping to retain his place in the side for their game at Harrogate Town, tomorrow afternoon.

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Hannant said: “Since the gaffer has come in, he’s just wanted us to work hard and give 100 per cent in every game.

“That means running for 90 minutes, doing all of the nasty, dirty stuff that most people probably wouldn’t want to do but is what wins you games, in League Two.

“If you’re willing to do all of that in each game, then you put yourself into a great position to win that game.

“I think he sees that in me; he knows that I’ll give 100 per cent every time I’m out there, in whatever position he wants me to play in.

“I feel that with the group of lads we’ve got, we’ve really brought into his philosophy of coaching and his styles of play.

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“We all want to finish the season really strongly and get that gap as big as possible, with as many games to go.

“The gaffer tries to keep the environment as positive as possible.

“We just want to come in and work hard.

“We’re in the position that we are but we’re not going to add extra pressure on ourselves.

“We’ll go into each game to try and take the positives and I feel like the run that we’re on at the moment, there’s a lot of positives to take into this game against Harrogate.

Colchester head to play Harrogate at the EnviroVent Stadium sitting eight points above the League Two relegation zone, with seven games remaining.

Hannant added: “There’s no reason why we can’t go to Harrogate and get a good result.

“We weren’t at our best against Tranmere but we know that we’ve had good performances in the last few games, to take into that game.

“We’ve been on the receiving end of a few results that haven’t gone our way in a season where we’ve probably dominated and not got the result we deserve.

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“To get it in that kind of fashion and for Junior to score his first goal as well, it was a big uplift for us – I’m not sure about his celebration, though!

“We can definitely take that confidence and positive play into what will be an exciting couple of games coming up.

“It’s hard not to look at other results and see what’s going on in the league.

“What we need to do is try and concentrate on ourselves and take the positives, like we did on Saturday into this game."