COLCHESTER United winger Jayden Fevrier says he relished pitting his wits against James McClean – and has revealed the experienced former Republic of Ireland international even helped him during the game.

Fevrier, 20, found himself up against the ex-Stoke City, West Brom and Sunderland attacker in the U’s 2-1 defeat at Wrexham, last weekend.

With McClean playing as a left wing-back for the Red Dragons and Fevrier deployed on the right for Colchester, the pair enjoyed an intriguing tussle at the Recreation Ground.

And Fevrier says playing against the 34-year-old former Premier League winger was a good experience.

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Fevrier said: “He (James McClean) is a great player and I thought we had a good battle.

“I think it was a good experience for me, playing against a seasoned professional, if you like.

“He was helping me a little bit during the game, with professional stuff.

“I got him booked and I was getting the ball and going at him, so I think he wanted to defend me.

“That’s just my game, going at people - he’s a great player and a great character.”

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Fevrier often found Wrexham doubling up against him in the League Two clash, with McClean often joining forces with Elliot Lee to combat the Colchester winger’s attacking threat.

“I think that’s been a common theme this season, getting double teamed,” said Fevrier.

“I’m enjoying the challenge, because it will help throughout my whole career.”

Colchester fell to a fifth successive defeat at Wrexham, a result that kept them just one place above the League Two relegation zone.

Fevrier scored the U’s consolation late on, after Lee’s early opener and Zach Mitchell’s second-half own goal had put the hosts in command.

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“It’s a belief thing,” said Fevrier, who has made 37 league and cup appearances for the U’s.

“I personally believed that we could get something, maybe other people didn’t.

“As a team, we’ve just got to believe in ourselves.

“We have bags of ability, bags of quality but we just need to be better and believe in ourselves a bit more.

“It’s tough losing five on the bounce and the boys are trying to correct it.

“As a team, it’s on us and we’ve got to rectify it.

“Hopefully we can put in a good performance against Salford and win the game.

Gazette: Jayden Fevrier

“We’ve got some players coming back from injury which is good.

“We all need to be a team and stick together because we have a tough run of fixtures – we’ve just got to believe in each other.

“It was good that I got a goal but ultimately, the team comes first.

“We lost the game, so my goal ultimately didn’t really count for much.

“It was a disappointing game.

“They went down to ten men so early and we had the advantage, so ultimately it wasn’t good enough and we need to be better.

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“Anyone watching that game would say that we dominated the first half but as a team, we need to sort out how we’re going to create more chances and ultimately, be better in both boxes.

“It showed that we’re good at keeping possession but we need to work on how we can create more chances and score more.

“We said at half-time that we needed to start quickly and we didn’t do that.

“They came out of the blocks very quickly and got a goal and that really changed the game.

“We can’t be sloppy; we have to be switched on for the whole game.”