ANDY Bond has had his contract at Colchester United cancelled by mutual consent.

The 27-year-old midfielder had been with the U’s for three-and-a-half years after being signed by John Ward in July 2010.

Bond had made 128 appearances and scored 13 goals for Colchester.

However, he fell out of favour in manager Joe Dunne’s plans spending time out on loan at Crewe Alexandra last season before returning to the Weston Homes Stadium to fight for his place.

However, this season he struggled to find a regular place in the U’s squad and had another spell out on loan, this time at Bristol Rovers.

Following his return from Rovers in October, Bond has only featured sparingly from the bench.

This season he has only made 11 appearences for the U’s, eight from the bench, including two appeareances in the League Cup and one in the FA Cup.

It was agreed that he could leave the club with five months remaining on his contract.