COLCHESTER United head coach Matt Bloomfield says Noah Chilvers' recent involvement for the under-21s was to give him some vital game time - and should absolutely not be viewed as a 'punishment'.

Chilvers featured for the U's academy side in their Premier League Cup defeat to Southampton at the JobServe Community Stadium, last weekend.

The 21-year-old talented attacking midfielder has not started a League Two match for Colchester since featuring at Newport County on October 22 and has found starts hard to come by, under Bloomfield.

But Bloomfield says Chilvers playing for the under-21s was to give him some crucial minutes on the pitch - and the U's boss was pleased with the application and attitude shown by the club's 2020-21 Player of the Season.

Bloomfield said: “It was to give Noah some game time.

“I spoke to Noah before the under-21 game and I’ve got really high hopes for him and his future.

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“I love him and think he’s a great lad – I really respect the fact that he’s come through the system here and we want to go give him a big future.

“He hasn’t had as many first-team minutes as he would probably like in the recent past.

“But I explained to Noah that for the first-team lads playing in the under-21s, it’s never a punishment – absolutely not.

“It’s what was best for Noah and he’s still only 21 years old.

“He needs to keep improving and playing football and he hasn’t had many minutes in the first team, so it was an opportunity for him without a first team game to go and get 90 minutes.

“I thought he performed really well and his application and attitude is everything to me, in those games.

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“He’s now the senior player going to set an example and I expected him to do it and he did.

“We’ve got a big squad here and there’s only 11 players who can start on any given Saturday.

“I think it’s really important that people play football, as silly as it sounds.

“I think it’s really important that players play matches as you can’t get match fitness and match sharpness just from training, however hard you train.

“It’s never going to be a punishment; I want it to be accepted and expected that if you’re not in the first team and there’s an under-21 game, the chances are that you might play in it, because I think it’s really, really important that when you get your chance in the first team, that you’re fit, you’re sharp and you’re ready to take it.

“I don’t think going two or three weeks without a game is healthy for footballers."

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Along with Chilvers, the likes of Tom Dallison and Marley Marshall Miranda also featured in the under-21 game against Southampton.

And Bloomfield says he is keen to see the club's first-team players involved in such Professional Development academy games on a regular basis, in the future.

“I think as a football club, we have to be really open to the fact that we do have under-21 games so use it for senior players when necessary," said former Ipswich Town youngster Bloomfield.

“We want a culture here and the environment here to be around us wanting to bring through young players as much as possible and the senior players are really vital to that, to set the right example.

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“They have to show the boys the way to act and prepare for games, the way to lead in games, their information, their knowledge and their experience to share with the younger players for their development is brilliant as well.

“I remember as a young player myself coming through at Ipswich and playing games with Jim Magilton in midfield and Matty Holland sometimes when they were coming back from injury and it meant everything to me as a young player.

“So when I was in my career, I wanted to try and help the young players and I want an environment here where the younger players and older players intertwine and help each other.

“The older lads get to feed off the younger lads’ energy but the younger lads get to feed off the experienced players and I think that’s really, really important."