Colchester United goalkeeper Sam Walker believes he has returned a stronger player following his long injury lay-off.

Walker is set to feature for the U’s in their pre-season friendly against Ipswich Town tonight at the Weston Homes Community Stadium, his first appearance at the venue since suffering a serious knee injury there while playing for the U’s against Reading, nearly a year ago.

The 24-year-old has had a prolonged period on the sidelines following the cruciate ligament injury he suffered in the Capital One Cup tie against the Royals.

But Walker is now fully fit and the former Chelsea youngster insists he has come back tougher for the experience he has been through.

Walker told the Daily Gazette: “I think I can come back as a better goalkeeper.

“The biggest thing for me is that I know my body much better than I ever did.

“I know what I need and what I need to do on a day to day basis, to get myself ready to train and ready to play and how I need to look after my body and my knee now.

“Physically, I think that will help massively and there’s other things like the fact that having a season out enabled me to watch a lot of games and a lot of different goalkeepers, in terms of how they go about their business.

“I hope I can add to that with mine and come back bigger and stronger.”

Walker played for the first time since recovering from his injury when he featured for Colchester in their friendly win at Ryman Premier outfit Needham Market, last week.

The 6ft 6in keeper says he is pleased with his fitness and cannot wait to get going.

“I feel really good and strong and sharp, so I’m really pleased,” added Walker.

“I’m a fully fit member of the squad now and doing sessions like everyone else is and there’s been no reaction or flare up at all, so it’s going really well.

“Pre-season is really important for me, not only for my knee and my fitness but also getting back to being match fit, if you like.

“Things have gone better than anyone had expected, to be honest.

“I got a good 45 minutes in at Needham Market last Tuesday which was really enjoyable – it was a big day for me and I enjoyed that a lot.

“It wasn’t just about being back out on the pitch – it was also about being involved in a matchday again with the rest of the boys, being in the changing room again, the warm-up, all of those little things.

“It was nice doing all of that again and that will only get better as we go into the bigger pre-season games.

“Since then, we’ve had a really good trip away – I didn’t play last Thursday (against Airbus UK Broughton) because it was on a 4G pitch and it was best not to risk anything there.

“I’ll be looking to get more minutes under my belt this week and crack on, because we have less than three weeks now until the season starts and I can’t wait.”