COLCHESTER United have signed a ‘really sharp player and a fantastic finisher’ in Anthony Scully.

That’s the view of U’s head coach Danny Cowley, who is delighted to have finally got his man after securing the striker on a season-long loan from his former club Portsmouth.

During his time as Lincoln City boss, Cowley was close to signing Scully on loan from West Ham United, where the striker played under former Colchester sporting director, Dmitri Halajko.

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Scully went on to excel for Lincoln, where he scored 25 goals in 61 league starts in League One.

The 25-year-old has since moved on to Wigan Athletic and current club Portsmouth but is now looking forward to a new challenge under the Cowleys at Colchester, after joining them on deadline day on a loan deal until the end of the season.

Cowley said: “We’d done a lot of recruitment work at Lincoln in the summer just before we left and we were close to taking Anthony on loan, from West Ham.

“It didn’t happen but Lincoln still took him in the next window permanently and obviously, he was brilliant for him there.

(Image: PA WIRE)

“He played for Dmitri at West Ham and he’s a boy that we know well.

“He’s a really sharp player and a fantastic finisher.

“He’s got an awesome goal record and he’s a presser with a high amount of energy.

“He’s had a tough period, I think it’s fair to say.

“We know that he’s had a frustrating time recently and has been at big clubs like Wigan and Portsmouth or he hasn’t played as much as he would have liked to because of injuries and this has got in his way.

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“This wouldn’t be possible without Portsmouth’s generosity to allow us to take him on the deal that they have.

“We just see a boy with a lot of talent who has real quality in front of goal and we find him in a really good moment, in terms of how focused he is and he’s had a full pre-season and trained every day, barring three.”

Colchester acted to snap up Republic of Ireland under-21 international Scully, after losing Bradley Ihionvien to Peterborough United on deadline day.

(Image: MATT WILKINSON)

Cowley added: “He’s really excited to be here and that was something that was really important to us.

“As soon as we knew we were losing Bradley which was five or ten minutes into our coach journey when we got the first offer from Peterborough, Anthony was our first call.”

Scully, who is out of contract at Portsmouth next summer, is in line to make his Colchester debut when they host Bromley at the JobServe Community Stadium, on Saturday.