LUKE Norris has ‘gone the extra mile’ to recover from his injuries, this season.

That is the view of Colchester United head coach Steve Ball, who was happy to see the striker return earlier than expected from his hamstring injury.

Norris returned to training last Thursday and came on as a late substitute for the U’s in their 2-1 win over Leyton Orient, yesterday afternoon.

It was a pleasant surprise to have the 27-year-old back in action, after it had been feared he would face a three-week lay-off after he suffered the injury in training last month.

Ball said: “Luke did his medial ligament which should have been six weeks and he got back in three.

"He then had a Grade One tear on his hamstring which should have been three weeks and he’s back in a week or ten days.

“The tear wasn’t as bad as we first thought but fair play to Luke for getting his head down and getting that fitness back quicker than possibly expected.

“Any player wants to get back but he’s going the extra mile to get himself back.”

Callum Harriott missed the U’s win over Leyton Orient with a hamstring injury he suffered in their FA Cup loss to Marine, last weekend.

But U’s boss Ball said the winger was close to featuring against the O’s.

“Cal was really close and he was chomping a bit on Thursday,” said Ball.

“The likes of Cal and Ben (Stevenson) are going to have a tough job getting back into the side, which is great for me.”

Colchester moved up to seventh in League Two following their win over Orient.

The U’s also have a game in hand over some of the teams around them and travel to play Nigel Clough’s Mansfield Town, on Friday night.

Ball added: “It’s nice to be in there but I’ve been here long enough to know that I’m not going to start thinking about it November.

“We’ll look at that as we go through it but it’s a nice place to be, right now.”