Karleigh Osborne is desperate to return to full fitness and play his part in Colchester United’s vital Easter programme.

The experienced centre-back, who is on loan at the U’s from Bristol City, admits it was a “massive blow” to miss their last two matches due to injury.

Osborne suffered a hamstring problem in Colchester’s 3-2 home defeat against Crawley Town, earlier this month.

And the 27-year-old, who has played four times for the U’s, has since seen his place taken by Tottenham Hotspur loanee, Bongani Khumalo.

But Osborne is working hard to be fit for Colchester’s crucial trip to play Port Vale on Good Friday and the home game against Barnsley, on Easter Monday.

Osborne said: “It was a massive blow to get a silly injury but I want to fight for my place again and I’m desperate to get back in the team.

“It happened when I had a shot against Crawley - it’s not a major thing but I need to make sure that it’s right.

“It’s getting better - I’ve been talking to the physio at Colchester and trying to strengthen it.

“I’ll see how it goes for the rest of the week.

“From a personal point of view, having a 13-day break between games gives me a bit more time to recover.

“The Easter weekend is a really important one for us.

“There’s a lot to play for and other teams are being sucked into it.

“I’ve always said that it’s a very tight league apart from maybe the top three and the good thing is that anyone can beat anyone.

“I hope that I can get back in the team and play my part in helping Colchester stay up.”

Osborne was at Wembley to see Bristol City’s victory over Walsall in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Final, last Sunday.

He picked up a winners’ medal following the Robins’ 2-0 triumph over the Saddlers and celebrated the victory with his team-mates afterwards.

“It was nice to see the boys do well,” added former Millwall and Brentford defender Osborne.

“I was able to enjoy it with the lads and the gaffer made sure that the loanees felt a part of it and were in all of the pictures.

“Credit to the gaffer - he made sure that I picked up a medal, which was nice of him.”