Femi Akinwande netted an 87th minute penalty as Town’s U21s were beaten 1-0 at Colchester United this afternoon, skipper Joe Robinson (pictured) having been shown a straight red card in the incident which led to the spot-kick.
Mark Kennedy named an unusually experienced team with Paul Digby partnering Robinson at centre-back, Jay Tabb and Larsen Touré featuring in midfield, and Luke Varney starting up front.
The former Blackburn striker came close to opening the scoring early on when Shane McLoughlin played him through, but Varney's left-foot shot across Dillon Barnes struck the far post before the ball was cleared to safety.
Town looked comfortable for much of the first half and should really have been ahead by the interval - Northern Irish U17 international Conor McKendry flashed a couple of efforts wide and Toure blazed over from the edge of the box when he should've hit the target.
Colchester sub Tyler Brampton ensured the scores remained level a few minutes after the restart when he diverted Robinson's goal-bound header over the bar, but then as the hour mark approached the Essex side started to gain the upper hand.
Louis Dunne released Akinwande who was thwarted by Jon Henly in the Town goal, and the stopper did well to collect Dion Sembie-Ferris's follow-up effort.
Henly again came to the rescue to deny Sembie-Ferris from a one-on-one chance a few minutes later after the wideman had beaten Myles Kenlock for pace.
Town offered little threat aside from set pieces and the U's collected all three points with a penalty three minutes from time.
A ball over the top found Akinwande who used his strength to hold off Robinson and get a shot away, which was kept out by Henly.
However, referee Oliver Morris-Sanders adjudged Robinson to have fouled the striker and pointed to the spot, much to the disgust of a number Town players.
To make matters even worse for Kennedy's side Robinson was shown a straight red card. Akinwande picked himself up and sent Henly the wrong way from the spot.
The blustery conditions made it difficult for both sides and a draw would probably have been a fair result, although Henly made a number of good saves to keep Town in the game during the second half.
Akinwande provided a good test for Digby who will have been pleased to get 90 minutes under his belt, while Tabb and Touré failed to make much of an impression on the game.
Varney worked hard up front and was unlucky not to score but he saw little of the ball during the second period.
U21s: Henly, Emmanuel, Kenlock, Tabb, Digby, Robinson, Toure, McDonnell, Varney, McLoughlin (Blanchfield 60), McKendry (Hammond 76). Unused: Marsden, C Smith, Guldbrandsen.