CHRIS Porter says he is enjoying being part of a winning team at Colchester United following the heartache of last season’s relegation.

The experienced striker was a regular performer for the U’s in their disappointing League One campaign, which resulted in them dropping down to the fourth tier.

Porter says losing games on a regular basis last season was tough on both the club’s players and fans.

But having helped Colchester chalk up three wins already this time around, the 32-year-old believes they can now discover a winning habit and banish the blues of last season.

Porter told the Daily Gazette: “It’s hard after last season - we were going home after every game each Saturday disappointed and I think the fans have got to understand that we take it to heart as much as they do.

“I thought our players were too good for us to have gone down and we shouldn’t have been where we were.

“But once you get into the rut of losing games, it’s hard to get out of.

“Now it’s the opposite, where we’re in the routine of winning games.

“It’s going to be hard to stop us now and hopefully, we’ll just keep on winning.

“Hopefully this season, we’ll continue doing what we’re doing and it’s a completely different feeling when you’re going home with three points.

“I’m sure it is for the fans too and hopefully, we’ll keep doing it for them.”

Porter got on the scoresheet for the first time last weekend when he netted Colchester’s opener in their 2-0 win at Wycombe Wanderers.

He also provided the assist for fellow forward Sammie Szmodics’ strike and admitted it was good to get off the mark for the season.

“I’ve got four assists and one goal now and it’s good to get on the scoresheet,” said Porter, who netted seven times for Colchester last season.

“I’m glad that I’ve been getting assists but it’s always good to score.”

Colchester head coach John McGreal is likely to make changes to his starting line-up for their game against Crawley Town in the Checkatrade Trophy tonight.

Porter could be one of the players to make way as McGreal looks to make use of his squad but the former Sheffield United forward says that will make no difference to the U’s motivation levels, heading into their opening group match in the competition.

Porter said: “We want to do well in every competition, whether there are changes or not.

“The manager has stressed that it’s a squad and that everyone is involved and we’ll all get minutes that we need.

“The manager has been rotating it anyway and all of the lads are fit, so it’s not as if he’s just using 11 players and the lads who come on are struggling fitness-wise.

“Everyone’s fit and raring to go.”