Colchester United keeper Sam Hornby on challenging season

But the Colchester United goalkeeper says he has grown as a person from the experiences he has gone through.

Hornby has had to play understudy to Owen Goodman for the vast majority of the campaign and has found his starting opportunities few and far between.

But the 29-year-old made his first league start for the U’s since November 2022 in the win at Crawley Town, last weekend and went onto keep a clean sheet in the 2-0 victory over Grimsby Town, on Tuesday night.

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Hornby says he is relishing his new-found opportunity handed to him by head coach Danny Cowley.

Hornby said: “I’m not going to lie and say it’s been easy.

“It has been tough mentally for me.

“It’s probably been one of the most challenging seasons on the football pitch I’ve had and I’ve grown as a person from it.

“I’m really happy with how it has gone looking back and reflecting.

“You keep your standards high and hope that you can force your way into the team and fortunately, I’ve been able to do that for the last two games.

“You lean on team-mates, family, my girlfriend’s down here, we’ve moved down from when I first signed.

“You seek people in football, out of football who give you that shoulder to lean on.

“There are people I work with away from football like sports psychologists who are really good – I’ve spoken to someone and got one of those.

“You kind of have to put your focus into other things and control what you can control.

“I’ve controlled what I can control, the last three months and I’ve been really happy with how I’ve trained every day.

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“I’ve been chomping at the bit every day in training and in games, when I’ve played for the under-21s which has kept me fresh with game time.

“I just have to use my experience, my voice, my calmness, how I am as a person and hopefully, the lads behind will feel that presence and experience and so on.

“That’s not to say that Owen wasn’t doing it, because he’s done brilliantly since he’s been here.

“But it’s just a case of the manager has asked me to do that and hopefully, I’ve delivered what he wanted.”

Colchester are aiming to secure their League Two status tomorrow when they travel to play Notts County, in their final away game of the season.

The U’s are four points above the relegation zone with three matches remaining and have a game in hand on rivals Sutton United.

“It’s not done yet and we need to go with that mindset on Saturday to get it done,” said the former Port Vale goalkeeper, who has made 27 appearances for the U's since joining them in January

“We want to do it – we don’t want to rely on other results.

“It was a big win against Grimsby and it’s put us in the right direction for what we wanted to achieve when the gaffer and Nicky came in and hopefully, we can do it on Saturday.

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“It’s sink or swim.

“You have to dig deep and there’s a really good togetherness in that dressing room.

“Obviously, there’s only 11 players who can go out on the pitch and then you’ve got the subs but people don’t see the day to day work that goes in, Monday to Friday.

“There’s a brilliant standard every day in training and there’s a lot of good professionals.

“Everyone drives standards every day.”

Colchester visit a Notts County side who lie 14th in the table and boast the second best goalscoring record in the division but also the worst defence.

Hornby added: “We respect what’s in front of us and we know we have to be on our A game to get something from the game.

“They’re a really good team – we played them earlier in the season and we saw how good they are and how much of a threat they are, going forward.

“It’ll be a tough game but one we’re all relishing and we can’t wait for the challenge.”