Town’s U18s comfortably beat Colchester United 4-1 at Playford Road on Wednesday morning. A brace from Carel Tiofack plus one each from Jidé Maduako (pictured) and Jon Leddy put the young Blues in a commanding position before a late strike from Gus Mufuta reduced the deficit.
Russell Osman’s men took the lead after just seven minutes when Tom Winter’s corner from the right was powerfully headed in by centre-half Jidé Maduako.
Keeper Conor O’Donnell made a good save on 19 to deny Tosin Olufemi, whose low shot from the edge of the box had been deflected.
The visitors again came close to equalising soon after when Matt Redgrave’s header from a corner was headed off the line by David October.
However, the U’s didn’t take advantage of their opportunities and Town scored a second just after the half-hour mark. Winter again provided a quality corner, with Lewis Acott squaring the ball from the back post and Carel Tiofack turning it in from six yards out.
Town were playing some good football and impressive build-up play from Caolan Lavery set Tiofack away but visiting keeper Shaun Phillips made a good stop at his feet.
Jon Leddy netted Town’s third four minutes before the interval after Callum Bennett had been fouled wide on the right. Leddy curled the freekick in with his left foot and it evaded everyone in the box before bouncing into the net.
Bennett came close to increasing the lead on the stroke of half-time when his low drive from the edge of the box hit the sidenetting.
After both sides made a number of substitutions, Tiofack scored his second goal on 57. A quick, strong run from Jack Simmons on the left saw the Welsh U17 international drive into the area before pulling the ball back to Tiofack, who slotted past Phillips.
Colchester had another chance to pull a goal back soon after when O’Donnell made a fine block on the edge of the area, but the ball broke free to Toby Morris but the U’s sub only managed to put the ball over the bar.
Ross Gilfedder spurned another opportunity for the visitors when he cut in from the left and curled his effort wide when he should have at least forced O’Donnell into a save.
However, as the match entered stoppage time, the U’s did get a deserved goal through Gus Mufuta who curled the ball over O’Donnell from 30 yards out.
Town always seemed in control of the match, although Colchester did waste a number of good opportunities. Simmons again impressed when he came on, while David October had another good game at left-back.
U18s: O’Donnell, Bennett, October, Acott, Maduako (Schrøder 68), Leddy (Scotcher 46), Winter, Jones (Meikle 46), Lavery (Simmons 46), Tiofack (Eynon 68), Thorsteinsson.
Report: James Ager