MILES Welch-Hayes insists Colchester United’s players are feeling confident about the season ahead – and won’t be dwelling on any past events.

The U’s kicked off their new League Two campaign with a creditable 0-0 draw at Bradford City.

It was Steve Ball’s first league game in charge as head coach, while Colchester’s starting line-up and bench featured a number of changes from last season.

Colchester experienced an eventful time last season, reaching the play-offs and making the Carabao Cup quarter-finals before the likes of boss John McGreal and key players such as Luke Prosser and Frank Nouble departed.

However, Welch-Hayes – who made his first league start for Colchester at Bradford – says they are now looking forward to the future.

Welch-Hayes said: “They’re a very good group of lads and I feel comfortable with them now.

“They’re very welcoming and we want to do very well, this season.

“We’re going into every game looking to get three points.

“The players we’ve lost are big players and characters, too.

“But I don’t think we should worry too much about that now because we’ve got new players.

“We can’t cry over spilt milk and I feel we have to focus on the players we have now and attack the season.

“We have a good group and great players so I think we can do well, this season.

“We’re a very confident group and we’re all together.”

Welch-Hayes played his part in helping Colchester keep a clean sheet at Bradford, in a contest where defences were largely on top.

The 23-year-old right-back says their performance gives them plenty of confidence, heading into the rest of the season.

He said: “Bradford is a tough place to get a point so we’re happy with the point.

“But we’re a very ambitious group and we didn’t come here thinking that we were going to lose the game – we came to try and get the three points.

“It gets the ball rolling; we’ve got a lot of work to do but it’s a good start.

“We’re quite a young group but I think we have a good mixture.

“We definitely like to play but there will be some games where we can’t do that and we have to defend well and keep a clean sheet.

“We mixed it up; we could have had more quality in some areas but it’s not an easy place to come and get a point.

“As defenders, it’s our job to keep clean sheets and we did that.

“But we’re very ambitious and it would have been nice to have got the three points.”