JACK Payne has enjoyed an impressive start to his Colchester United career.

The 30-year-old’s performances in League Two have caught the eye, since his summer switch from MK Dons.

Payne has started all but two of Colchester’s league games so far this season, scoring twice.

And the attacking midfielder’s excellent form means he is riding high in the rankings in two individual categories, in the fourth tier.

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Payne has made the most key passes in League Two.

The former Huddersfield Town and Charlton Athletic man has clocked up an outstanding 33 key passes according to AiScore, the latest of which came in the U’s 1-0 triumph at Grimsby when he came off the bench to set up fellow substitute John-Kymani Gordon for his late winner, at Blundell Park.

Payne is also joint second for League Two assists alongside team-mate Samson Tovide, with the U’s pair having clocked up five apiece just behind MK Dons’ Aaron Nemane, who leads the way with six.

(Image: Richard Blaxall)

The statistics reflect the influence Payne has had in the Colchester side, having joined them on a two-year deal in July.

Colchester boss Danny Cowley said: “He loves football.

“It’s the first thing he thinks about when he wakes up and the last thing he thinks about before he goes to bed.

“He has a great energy and enthusiasm for the game.

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“He brings that energy every day, in training.

“He always wants to play and he’s a brilliant professional.

“He’s built a shed in his garden which has an ice bath in it, which he kind of lives in!

“Some of the other boys go round his house to recover in it, as well.

“He looks after himself in a really good way and if you do that, you give yourself every chance to be able to increase your player availability.

“He may be small in stature but he’s certainly big, in heart.”

(Image: STEVE BRADING)

Payne was a surprise omission from the Colchester starting line-up at Grimsby last weekend and boss Cowley admits the midfielder can think himself unfortunate not to have started.

“He’s got to feel unlucky to be left out and it was literally the conditions that beat him today – we just didn’t feel that they would suit him,” added Cowley.

“We felt that to get two forwards on the pitch that we could play into would be very important because with the wind on your tail, if you just play in behind, then the ball just runs off for goal-kicks.”