COLCHESTER United have recalled young forward Oscar Thorn from his loan spell at Chelmsford City as the injury list mounts.

The 20-year-old academy player is returning to the U's after saying his goodbyes to the Clarets following their 2-1 defeat to Farnborough in National League South, on Saturday afternoon.

Thorn had been due to stay at Chelmsford on loan until January but has now been recalled at Colchester and could be in their squad for their trip to play Chesterfield, on Tuesday night.

 

Writing on X, Thorn said: 'Loved my time at this club. Thank you to everyone at the club and best of luck for the season clarets!'

Thorn, who spent time on loan at Bath City last season, featured regularly for the U's in pre-season.

He spent time as an academy player at both Arsenal and Norwich City before he joined Colchester in the 2023 January transfer window.

READ MORE: Colchester United boss Danny Cowley on Cheltenham loss

Colchester lost Samson Tovide to injury in the first half of their defeat to Cheltenham Town, on Saturday.

The U's were already missing Anthony Scully, Owura Edwards and Teddy Bishop from their squad.

U's boss Danny Cowley said: "We find a good goal but of course, we then lose Samson (Tovide), which was a huge loss to us when you already have Owura (Edwards), Anthony Scully, Teddy Bishop unavailable.

(Image: STEVE BRADING)

"This summer, we sold a lot of athleticism and a lot of our pace - Jayden Fevrier, Jay Mingi, Brad Ihionvien.

"You can't then on the back of that lose the likes of Samson and Owura because it hurt the team and it looked like we lost our way on the back of Samson going off the back of it."