Noah Chilvers: Colchester 'will do well to keep' midfielder, says boss Wayne Brown
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Noah Chilvers slots home Colchester's first goal in their win at Scunthorpe
Colchester United manager Wayne Brown said the club "will do well to keep" Noah Chilvers if he maintains his current form.
The 21-year-old scored twice in the 3-1 win at Scunthorpe, which lifted them eight points clear of the League Two relegation places.
Midfielder Chilvers has six goals in 35 appearances for the U's this season.
"We all know what quality Noah's got, he's shown it for a long time now," Brown told BBC Essex Sport.
"If he plays like that then we'll do very well to keep him.
"We asked him to play as an eight, then we asked him to play as a 10, then we put him out on the left, but wherever he played on the pitch he's done a great job for the team.
"Getting two goals as well just tops it off."
Chilvers joined Colchester's academy when he was nine and made his first-team debut as a late substitute in a 3-0 win over Newport County in March 2019.
He scored the winning penalty in an EFL Cup shootout following a 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace later that year, but had to wait until September 2020 for his first league start.
Chilvers said his first goal against Scunthorpe - which brought the U's level against opponents down to 10 men following Luke Matheson's sending-off - after charging forward from his own half was slightly fortunate not to be disallowed.
"I might have handled it," he admitted. "In the first half, I had four or five fouls against me that the ref didn't give, so maybe it's a justice one.
"The ball was bouncing around, it was quite close to me and the guy I was trying to compete with, and it nicked off my hand which probably gave me a little bit of an advantage.
"I'm just as happy with the second one because that's something I've had to add to my game, just arriving in the box [at the right time]."
Colchester have won four of their 12 league games since Brown was put in interim charge in January, losing only three, and travel to play-off chasing Bristol Rovers on Tuesday.
"We've got to go into that with the confidence and mindset that we can win that one as well - and why not?" Chilvers added.
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