DIAZ Wright admits he must be ruthless when it comes to trying to nail down a place in Colchester United’s starting line-up.

The 20-year-old made his first appearance for the U’s in three months when he appeared as a second-half substitute in their 1-1 draw at Macclesfield Town, last weekend.

Wright came on for the injured Tom Lapslie just after half-time at the Moss Rose, having been back on the bench after fellow midfielder Harry Pell was also sidelined with a hamstring problem.

He faces plenty of competition in his position and the Colchester youth-team product admits he must do everything he can to seize any opportunities that come his way.

Wright told the Gazette: “At the start of the week, I’m not really to be seen in the first-team picture especially on matchdays but then you come to the end of the week and you’re playing in a game trying to get three points for the team.

“You have to be ready, because stuff like this can happen at any time.

“That’s why you play the under-23 games, to keep the match fitness levels up so when you are needed in any position in any games, you can come in and do a job.

“I’d never wish injury on anyone but that’s why we have the numbers we have.

“There’s always injuries in football and you have to be ruthless in that sense, that if you get the chance to play you have to try and keep your position.

“With Ben (Stevenson) coming in on deadline day, that’s four centre midfielders in front of me fighting for two positions.

“But I spoke to the gaffer and we’ve obviously had two injuries in the week, so I’m just happy to be back on the bench and come on.”

Wright played his part in helping Colchester claim a draw at Macclesfield, after Frank Nouble’s penalty had cancelled out Scott Wilson’s opener.

“As a substitute, you always want to come on and I thought I did well enough.

“You know what you’re coming into so it’s a case of rolling your sleeves up, trying to do all of the dirty side of the game well and just try and help the team.

“You just want to get your first pass away, in these games.

“You want to keep the ball when you need to keep it but try and not be too precise especially on a pitch like that.”

Colchester play host to fellow promotion hopefuls Carlisle United this weekend, looking to enhance their prospects of a League One return.

Wright added: “There’s 13 games left and there’s loads of football still to play.

“We’ve taken seven points out of nine so you’d take that and move on to your home game next weekend, against another promotion contender.

“Everyone is in a good place at the moment.

“We’re in good form and good spirits and hopefully we can get three points to make up for the two points dropped (at Macclesfield).

“After that game, we all said we’d take a point especially after the first half when we were at our best.

“I thought we probably edged the second half - we looked more of a creative threat on the attacking front and defended set pieces really well.

“All of the boys said it was probably one of the toughest games, given the pitch and Macclesfield really needing the points at the moment.

“With all of those factors considered, we knew it was going to be hard so we’d probably take a point.”