COLCHESTER United’s Andy Bond says he is in better shape than ever heading into the new season.

The 27-year-old has featured regularly for the U’s in their pre-season friendlies and completed 90 minutes in their 2-1 defeat against West Ham United on Tuesday night.

Bond is one of a number of players vying for a starting berth in Joe Dunne’s midfield.

And with the new League One campaign little more than a fortnight away, the former Barrow man says he is feeling fitter than ever.

Bond said: “I feel as good as I’ve ever felt in pre-season – it’s been brilliant for me personally.

“It’s a case of getting on the pitch and getting minutes under your belt.

“It’s obviously been hard at times because of the hot weather but you just have to get through it.

“I’m glad there’s a lot of games to play and I want to be involved in all of them. “I’m just looking forward to the season starting now.

“We played West Ham on Tuesday night and we have Tottenham on Friday night, followed by Ipswich next week.

“We know we’ll have to be at our best against Spurs but it’s just good to get minutes under your belt.”

Bond is about to embark on his fourth season at Colchester, having joined them in July 2010.

He featured regularly in Dunne’s starting line-up in the latter weeks of the last campaign as they successfully avoided relegation from League One.

“I finished the season playing and touch wood, I can start the new season playing too,” added Bond, who spent the early part of last season on loan at Crewe Alexandra.

“The gaffer has brought some good players in and it’s good to have our first season under him.

“It was a good feeling staying up last season but the table doesn’t lie.

“We shouldn’t have been in that position but this is a brand new season now.

“I’m optimistic going into the new season – we just have to hit the ground running and we’ll see what happens.

“We’re playing two newly-promoted teams to start with but there aren’t any easy games in our division.

“We just have to approach every game wanting to win it.”