Ryan Clampin’s 50-yard strike saw Colchester United to a 1-0 Leasing.com Trophy victory over the Blues at the JobServe Stadium which sees the U’s top the group. A dull game appeared to be going nowhere when Clampin hit his long-distance fortuitous effort to seal the three points and a home tie in the next round while Town will face an away trip.
The Blues named the expected fringe side with Brett McGavin handed his debut in midfield and striker Ben Folami also starting. The 20-year-old has delayed his departure for international duty with Australia’s U23s until tomorrow.
Tomas Holy returned in goal with Janoi Donacien at right-back, Myles Kenlock at left-back and Toto Nsiala and stand-in captain James Wilson the centre-halves.
Alongside McGavin, son of former U’s star and one-time Blues academy recruitment head Steve, in central midfield was Emyr Huws with Anthony Georgiou on the left and Gwion Edwards on the right and Idris El Mizouni playing just off striker Folami, who recently returned after eight months out with an achilles injury.
On the bench were academy scholars Tommy Hughes, Kai Brown and Liam Gibbs, the latter pair in the first-team 18 for the first time. Also among the subs was Tawanda Chirewa, a Shenfield schoolboy midfielder aged 16 years and 31 days with a Zimbabwean background.
The Colchester side included former Blues Frank Nouble amd Omar Sowunmi, while Dean Gerken and Tom Eastman are on the bench.
Chances were rare in the opening minutes with Town fans - 2,781 out of the overall crowd of 5,104 - continuing to stream in long after kick-off having been delayed by heavy traffic both as they left Ipswich and arrived in Colchester.
But on 12 El Mizouni hit a well-struck effort which Colchester keeper Ethan Ross pushed past his post.
Town began to start pressing the U’s as the game moved towards the 25-minute mark, Donacien winning a corner which ultimately came to nothing.
Ten minutes before the break, with little of note still having happened, Luke Norris was yellow-carded for a foul on Nsiala with the Town central defender making his annoyance regarding the challenge very clear.
On 37 Sowunmi, a Town academy graduate, joined his team-mate in the book for pulling back Folami.
A minute later, the Australian turned away from his man on the right of the box and sent over a low ball which Edwards was only able to divert across the face of goal.
The Blues appeared to be getting up a head of steam as half-time approached but the home team - whose fans were significantly outnumbered by travelling Blues - then had a spell in and around the Town box but without being able to carve out a chance.
Town went close to opening the scoring in the 44th minute when Georgiou did well on the left and cut across to Folami, whose goalbound effort was brilliantly diverted over the bar by a sliding defender.
As the half moved into injury time, Blues skipper Wilson was booked for a foul on Clampin not far outside the area.
Norris curled the freekick wide and the referee’s whistle ended a half which won’t linger long in the memory soon afterwards.
Town had just about shaded it in terms of the few chances but overall there had been little between the sides.
The Blues started the second half brightly with Folami squeezing an early shot across goal, before Town won a couple of corners on the left. From the second, McGavin screwed a shot very, very wide after the ball had broken to him on the penalty spot
Moments later, Georgiou broke into the left of the area and cut inside for Folami, who couldn’t get in a shot. The ball eventually fell to El Mizouni, whose effort looked on its way into the net until it caught Sowunmi in the face and flew wide.
On 55 Georgiou again broke down the left and hit a shot which arced away into the side-netting.
Two minutes later, the U’s swapped Brendan Sarpong-Wiredu for Ryan Jackson. In the 65th minute Courtney Senior was replaced by Kwame Poku.
With just over 20 minutes remaining, both teams’ qualification for the next phase was confirmed with news that Gillingham had beaten Tottenham’s U21s 2-0 at the Priestfield Stadium in the group’s other final fixture.
Colchester made their third sub in the 71st minute, Theo Robinson taking over from former Blue Nouble.
The game appeared to be drifting to a 0-0 draw and a penalty shoot-out until the 80th minute when Clampin scored a quite remarkable goal to give the U’s the lead.
The midfielder reached the ball ahead of El Mizouni after the ball was cleared from a cleared freekick just inside the Town half and his clearance-turned-strike looped over Holy and into the net before he was surrounded by his team-mates. Blues supporters may have been reminded of Jason Cundy's goal for Spurs at Portman Road in 1992.
Town handed first-year scholar Gibbs his senior debut in the 87th minute for Anthony Georgiou, while Hughes was given his second first-team game for El Mizouni.
In injury time Chirewa became the Blues’ second-youngest senior player at 16 years and 31 days for Edwards. Connor Wickham remains the youngest having made his debut at 16 years and 11 days.
There was no time for the schoolboy to make an impression before referee Sam Purkiss ended proceedings.
While the game had essentially been a dead rubber from a Town perspective, the one thing they still had to play for was home advantage in the second leg, which a draw or a victory would have secured.
However, while the Blues had spells on top, Colchester keeper Ross was rarely troubled. Holy had a similarly quiet game but was beaten by Clampin’s strike which was the game’s most notable moment by some distance.
Town's young fringe side will feel they didn't deserve to lose to a more senior Colchester side and the stalemate the match appeared to be drifting towards would probably have been a fair result.
McGavin will be happy with his debut, while Folami impressed in a lone striking role, his first appearance for the senior side since the 4-0 win at Reading in April 2017.
The draw for the second round will take place live on Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday at 2pm with former Colchester striker Clinton Morrison and ex-England midfielder Sue Smith in charge of picking the balls from the bowl.
The winner of each group will play a runner-up from another group with the draw split on a north-south basis.
Colchester: Ross, Lapslie, Prosser (c), Sowunmi, Senior (Poku 65), Pell, Norris, Brown, Sarpong-Wiredu (Jackson 57), Clampin, Nouble (Robinson 71). Unused: Gerken, Bramall, Eastman, Stevenson.
Town: Holy, Donacien, Wilson (c), Nsiala, Kenlock, Edwards (Chirewa 90), El Mizouni (Hughes 87), McGavin, Huws, Georgiou (Gibbs 87), Folami. Unused: Norris, Rowe, Woolfenden, K Brown. Referee: Sam Purkiss. Att: 5,104 (Town: 2,781).