FORMER Colchester United favourite George Moncur says he would dearly love to see his old club make a return to League One, this season.

The skilful midfielder is currently in the middle of a promotion push with his current club Barnsley, whom he joined from the U's for a six-figure fee back in 2016.

Moncur has played his part in helping the Tykes move to fourth in the third tier and has his sights set on helping the Oakwell club back into the Championship.

But the 25-year-old is also keeping a close eye on Colchester, who are riding high themselves sitting in fifth spot in League Two.

And the former West Ham United youngster, who was part of the U's squad that suffered relegation under Kevin Keen in the 2015-16 season, says he would be delighted to see his former side make the step up.

Moncur said: "It's great to see that they are doing well.

"I think they have got a great chance of getting back to League One.

"I really want them to do well, so hopefully they get promoted again this year.

"I don’t think they have got a problem with going up."

Striker Luke Norris has spearheaded Colchester's promotion push so far this season, scoring eight goals so far.

The former Brentford player has been in prolific form and Moncur feels that will stand Colchester in good stead, over the coming months.

"I've played against him a few times and he's always scored goals," he said.

"He's a good player - I'm sure they will keep hold of him and do well."

Moncur has been in fine form for Barnsley this season and is one of the first names on Daniel Stendel’s teamsheet, as they push for promotion back to the Championship.

However, the playmaker admits it took him to adjust to life at Oakwell following his move there from Colchester nearly two and a half years ago and soon found himself embroiled in another relegation battle.

‘I was in League One with Colchester and then I came up here and it didn’t go anywhere near I thought it would," said Moncur, who had a loan spell at Peterborough in 2016.

"I believe it was a big learning curve for me in that time.

"I had probably a year, year and a half in the Championship.

"I was playing well but I was not getting the goals and assists I was getting in League One.

‘Then I went back out on loan, played well at Peterborough but then I wasn’t really getting in that team.

‘I’m really grateful to where I am now, getting the chance to play again in League One and showing people what I can do.’

Barnsley currently lie five points off leaders Peterborough United, ahead of their home game against Southend United this weekend.

He added: ‘Whereas last year you were going into games thinking, ‘I hope we don’t lost today, now we are going into games saying, ‘we won’t lose’. It’s a completely different mindset."