COLCHESTER United could hand a debut to schoolboy Lennox Emery in their Bristol Street Motors Trophy clash with MK Dons tonight.

The 15-year-old left-sided attacker has been training with the U’s first team this weekend and boss Danny Cowley says he could make his first senior appearance for the club in their Southern Group E opener at the JobServe Community Stadium.

Emery has been featuring for Colchester’s under-18 side in the Professional Development League this season and scored in their 3-2 defeat at Fleetwood Town, last month.

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Cowley told cu-fc.com: “There should be some good opportunity for some, for sure.

“We’ve also got some really good young players.

“We have young Lennox, who’s just 15 and has trained with the first team today (Monday).

“He’s a really special talent and the academy year after year keep finding and then developing these young players.

“He’s trained with us today with a view to being involved, because he may still be at school but to me, it doesn’t matter how old you are, it just matters whether you’re ready.

“We know that we have a conveyor belt of young players coming through at this football club and these games do give us that opportunity as well.

(Image: Richard Blaxall)

“It’s always to find that balance, always with a view to trying to win the game.”

Colchester are looking to get their Bristol Street Motors Trophy campaign off to a winning start tonight against their League Two rivals, who they beat 2-0 at home last month.

“We’re really excited for the game, because we think it’s another really good opportunity,” added Cowley, who won the EFL Trophy with Lincoln City, in 2018.

“We’ve prepared well and done some really good work.

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“We played MK Dons just recently, so I think both teams know each other pretty well.

“It’s quite hard to predict exactly what they’re going to do; it’s probably hard for them to predict what we’re going to do.

“In that situation, you just put the energy into our performance and we’re still growing as a team ourselves.”