DILLON Barnes is still in talks with Colchester United about extending his stay at the club.

The 23-year-old goalkeeper, who made 26 appearances for the club last season, is yet to sign the new deal offered to him by the U’s, at the end of last season.

Barnes, who is suspended for the U's opening game of the season against Port Vale on August 3, played for 45 minutes of Colchester’s 2-0 friendly win at Dulwich Hamlet, with Ethan Ross playing in the first half.

But the former Fulham youngster has stalled on signing the new contract on the table from the U’s, who are closing in on a deal to bring their former goalkeeper Dean Gerken back to the club.

Colchester head coach John McGreal said: “At this moment in time, Dillon is still in talks with the club.

“We’re still talking to his representatives and hopefully, we’ll come to a conclusion soon.”

Colchester ran out winners at National League South side Dulwich last night, thanks to second-half goals from Courtney Senior and Omar Sowunmi.

It was their second successive 2-0 friendly win, following their triumph by the same scoreline at Isthmian League Premier new boys Bowers and Pitsea, last Friday.

“It was obviously a lot better performance than against Bowers and Pitsea,” said McGreal.

“You always have a few teething problems in pre-season, with boys trying to get the minutes.

“We’ve really hit the boys hard over the last few days in training to come out on to the pitch and you do want them stressed.

“There’s no points to be won at this moment in time and it’s all about fitness.

“You can see already that some of the boys are hitting the kilometres already.

“It was a great exercise (at Dulwich) and one where they feed off the big man up top and try and feed off him and get behind the ball with 4-5-1 or 5-4-1, to try and get that compactness and drop off.

“It’s great for us to put ourselves into that test, so early on.

“There’s a reason we’ve picked the games we’ve had in pre-season.

“We knew it would be a tough test for us to come (to Dulwich) and play.

“They have boys who’ve dropped out of the Football League and are trying to go again.

“They have something to prove and they have a great squad here, at this moment in time.

“They have some good footballers and I’d imagine they’ll do well in the Conference South, this season.

“They have a threat and a physicality about their play, which we needed (to play against).

“It’s pre-season and they’ve taken a lot of minutes - it was 60-30 (against Dulwich), which was excellent.”