COLCHESTER United have ample firepower to fuel their ongoing League Two promotion push.

That's the view of U's boss John McGreal after Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe yesterday left to join Israeli side Hapoel Hadera, on a permanent deal.

Ogedi-Uzokwe had provided back up to the likes of Theo Robinson, Luke Norris and Frank Nouble over recent weeks.

He has now left the club for the Israeli Premier League but head coach McGreal feels that they have enough cover in the forward area.

McGreal said: “We were just thinking about what we’ve got in that area, really.

“We’ve got three strikers who we think are very good as well and we’ve also got young (Jake) Hutchinson beneath that, as well who we’ve exposed a little bit.

“We do feel as though we’re covered in that area."

Ogedi-Uzokwe made 12 appearances during his time at Colchester, scoring once.

The former Maldon and Tiptree forward returned to Colchester in the final weeks of 2019, following his successful loan spell playing for Derry City, in the League of Ireland.

Ogedi-Uzokwe hit in an impressive 14 goals for Derry to establish himself as a fans’ favourite and finish as the league’s top goalscorer during his loan stint.

The 25-year-old made his first Colchester appearance for nearly a year when he came on as a late substitute in their 0-0 draw at Stevenage, last month.

He also appeared off the bench for the final minutes of the 1-1 draw at Morecambe, the following week but has not featured since January 11 for Colchester.

“We’ve given him an opportunity to come back into it," added McGreal.

“We haven’t given him the starts that he’s been craving as such.

“He’s had to do his pre-season again in the winter and he’s come back and played a bit part, with a couple of substitute appearances but trained with us.

“Junior has been playing and scoring goals in the Irish league and he’s been given the opportunity to go abroad and he wanted to take it, so we wish him the best of luck.

“When you get to 25 years of age and you’ve only got one or two league games; we’ve given him an opportunity a couple of years ago, he went and got goals, we’ve then brought him back into the environment.

“But when you’ve got Theo (Robinson) playing particularly well and scoring and Nos (Luke Norris) backing that up along with Frank (Nouble) who can do that as well, we do feel as though we’re covered in that area."