Ipswich Town 0-1 Colchester United: Blues dumped out by U's

The Blues have still only won five matches in the 11 years since they reached a two-legged semi-final with Arsenal, with the U’s the latest team from League Two to knock Ipswich out of the competition at the first hurdle.

Luke Hannant scored the Colchester goal, which was gifted to him as Rekeem Harper played a sloppy ball across his own box, which was too far ahead of Cameron Burgess and well short of Greg Leigh. Hannant did the rest to slam home the goal which eventually won the tie.

Ipswich dominated this contest, having by far the greater share of possession and reaching double figures in terms of corners, without being able to test visiting keeper Sam Hornby enough.

A string of Ipswich players had openings, without being able to find the vital touch, with teenage midfielder Cameron Humphreys getting into some excellent shooting positions and not converting.

Town’s dominance continued until the final whistle, helped by Kieran McKenna’s quadruple substitution, but there was no way through and Town once again exit at the first hurdle, just as they did against Newport a year ago.

McKenna made 10 changes to the side which beat Forest Green on Saturday, with only Cameron Burgess keeping his place from the New Lawn.

Luke Woolfenden returned to the side, having missed the game through illness, with Kane Vincent-Young completing the back three in front of Vaclav Hladky.

Luke Chambers back at Portman Road. (Image: Steve Waller)

Kyle Edwards and Greg Leigh were the wing backs, with Harper and Humphreys in the centre of the pitch. Skipper Sone Aluko joined Tyreece John-Jules and Kayden Jackson in attack.

The Colchester side included former Ipswich stalwarts Luke Chambers and Cole Skuse, who made nearly 700 Town appearances between them, while former Blues Frank Nouble and Tom Eastman also started.

Humphreys was involved early, shooting straight at Colchester keeper Sam Hornby and then slipping a beautiful pass through for Leigh, which the left-sider couldn’t connect with well enough as his shot went through to the U’s No.1.

Leigh was the next to threaten as he picked up on a superb diagonal ball to test the Colchester keeper, who saved well, before Humphreys had a shot well blocked by Ossama Ashley.

The teenager has Ipswich’s first big chance of the night on 26 minutes, as an Edwards cross rolled behind the pack of players in the Colchester penalty area, allowing Humphreys to run onto a ball around the penalty spot. Sadly, though, he blazed over the top of the bar instead of testing Hornby.

The hosts had dominated this game until Harper’s slack ball across the box gave Hannant the chance to rifle past Hladky and give his side the lead against the run of play.

Ipswich continued to have the bulk of the play after the U’s opener, with Vincent-Young heading over and then turning provider with a low cross which Humphreys again couldn’t convert, from a similar position to his earlier chance.

Town were behind at the break, despite having the vast majority of the play, and returned for the second period unchanged with McKenna resisting the temptation to use any of his five substitutions at the break.

John-Jules had the first opening after the break, but couldn’t hit the target as he fired over the top after Aluko’s corner had sparked danger inside the Colchester six-yard box.

Jackson and Edwards both turned crosses at goal which were easy for Hornby to gather, as Town continued to dominate possession without overly testing the Colchester keeper, who was called into action again soon after to push Aluko’s low free-kick away.

Skuse received a good reception as he was substituted after the hour mark, before McKenna turned to his bench to make a quadruple change, which saw Wes Burns, Lee Evans, Marcus Harness and Conor Chaplin enter the contest for the final 20 minutes.

The latter was the first entrant to have an attempt at goal, turning wide with an acrobatic effort, but that was as good as it got for the Blues as they were dumped out of the cup once again.

Ipswich Town (4-2-3-1): Hladky; Vincent-Young (Burns, 70), Woolfenden, Burgess, Leigh; Humphreys (El Mizouni, 84), Harper (Evans, 70); Edwards, Aluko (Harness, 70), John-Jules; Jackson (Chaplin, 70)

Subs: Hayes, Edmundson, Donacien, Penney

Yellow cards: Woolfenden (90+3)

Colchester United (4-2-3-1): Hornby; Tchamadeu, Chambers, Eastman, Kazeem (Tovide 85), Ashley (Clampin, 56), Miranda, Skuse (Coxe, 67), Hannant, Chilvers, Nouble (Akinde, 85)

Subs: Collins, Dallison, Newby

Yellow cards: Skuse (38), Ashley (56), Hannant, (76)

Att: 11,654 (1,447 away fans)