Chris Coyne admits his commitment to Australia is affecting his Colchester career.

"Playing for Australia has been a bit of a hindrance for me this season, there's no doubt about that, in terms of club football," admitted Coyne. "I seem to play one game, and then go away for an international. I come back and I'm not in the side, but it's a good situation to have four good centre-halves at the club. There's four of us going for just two spots."

Coyne has no complains about flying halfway around the world to sit on the bench as Australia dumped Qatar 4-0 earlier this month.

"It's an exciting time for me to play for Australia. It's something that I have always wanted to do, ever since I represented Australia Under-17s as a 15-year-old," he said. "I didn't get on in the last World Cup Qualifier against Qatar. I had played in the previous four games, but Craig Moore came out of international retirement and the manager (Pim Verbeek) chose him instead. You might think that it's a long way to go, to sit on the bench, but I was still representing my country, which is always a great honour."

On new Colchester gaffer Paul Lambert, Coyne added: "So far, so good. He's clearly a manager who knows what he wants - he is a strong, driven and determined character.

"I know what sort of character he is in terms of his playing career and he seems to have taken that into his management career. He is a good young manager that wants to do well. Every manager is different and have different ideas to put across."