Aaron Drinan scored twice, once from the spot, and Gwion Edwards and Idris El Mizouni one each as the Blues comfortably beat Colchester United 4-0 in the first of two 75-minute behind-closed-doors friendlies at the JobServe Community Stadium.
The Republic of Ireland U21 international put the Blues in front in the seventh minute, then netted a penalty on 25 before Edward made it three seven minutes later and sub El Mizouni completed the scoring in the 54th minute.
Town’s XI for the first game included Stephen Ward making his first appearance for the Blues at left-back having completed his free move yesterday after leaving Stoke at the end of last season. The Irish international was wearing the skipper's armband rather than midfielder Cole Skuse, last season's vice-captain.
At right-back Kane Vincent-Young made his first appearance since his 2019/20 was curtailed by a groin injury in October.
Town, in their new very light blue away kit, lined up in a 4-3-3 system with Drinan the centre forward and Armando Dobra on the right and Edwards on the left.
In goal, Harry Wright made his first appearance for the senior side with Tomas Holy struggling with a shoulder problem.
The Czech keeper was watching from the sidelines along with Jon Nolan, James Wilson, presumably due to minor injury, and new signings David Cornell and Oli Hawkins with the latter pair having trained little if at all before joining the Blues on Monday.
For Colchester, ex-Blues Dean Gerken and Tommy Smith, who is on trial with the U’s, both started.
Town threatened for the first time in the fifth minute when Ward crossed from the byline on the left and ex-U’s man Vincent-Young shot goalwards but Ryan Clampin blocked.
Two minutes later, the Blues went in front. Teddy Bishop threaded the ball through for Drinan, who confidently slipped the ball past Gerken to grab his first goal for the the first team.
The Blues saw most of the ball building slowly from the back and were looking threatening on the left. But on 16 they lost possession on halfway and Colchester broke, Luke Gambin eventually cutting inside from the right and hitting a shot which Wright batted away.
It should have been 2-0 in the 21st minute when the ball was cut back from the left and found Vincent-Young at the far post but the right-back scuffed his effort well wide when he should have scored.
In the 25th minute the Blues were awarded a penalty when Smith tripped his former team-mate Bishop as he made a trademark burst into the area. Drinan was handed the ball and sent Gerken the wrong way to claim his second goal of the game.
Just after the half hour, Drinan had a chance to grab a hat-trick when he was found 10 yards out inside the box. However, his low effort was saved by Gerken down to his left and Smith cleared.
Town, who won a 90-minute friendly against the U’s 5-0 last summer, made it 3-0 in the 32nd minute when Gwion Edwards brought the ball into the area on the left before hitting a low right-foot shot which beat Gerken to his left and crept just inside the post.
In the 43rd minute Toto Nsiala gifted the ball to Jevani Brown not too far outside the area but Wright did well to block his effort a goal.
Soon afterwards the first period was brought to an end with the Blues having been dominant and perhaps a little disappointed not to have scored more than twice with Vincent-Young probably feeling he should have scored against his old club.
At the other end, the Blues were only threatened on two occasions after they had been careless with the ball but Wright made amends for his team-mates on both occasions.
Town swapped Emyr Huws for Idris El Mizouni ahead of a 30-minute second half, while Colchester switched Harry Pell for Marley Marshall-Miranda.
On 50 sub Marshall-Miranda was shown the first yellow card of the game for sending Dobra flying as the Albanian U21 call-up was breaking forward midway inside the U’s half.
Four minutes later El Mizouni made it 4-0 to the Blues with the goal of the night. The Tunisian international brought the ball forward a couple of paces before lashing a powerful strike past Gerken from 25 yards off the inside of the post.
On 57 Al-Amin Kazeem came on for Ryan Clampin for Colchester then a minute later Town swapped Ward, who was a big threat going forward in the first half, and Cole Skuse for Tommy Smith, the young left-back coming through from the academy, and Brett McGavin, whose father Steve used to play for the U’s.
In the 65th minute Edwards wasn’t too far away from his second of the game when he curled a shot from just outside the area to the left just wide after Vincent-Young had broken down the right.
Two minutes later Drinan had the ball in the net for a third time but the referee had called play back for offside.
That was the final goalmouth action of a game which will have pleased Town boss Paul Lambert, a former Colchester manager, watching alongside his assistant Stuart Taylor from the technical area.
Town were well on top in the first half with their experienced midfield of Skuse, Huws and Bishop dominating their League Two opposition, while Drinan and Edwards took their goals confidently.
Youngsters Dobra and El Mizouni both made an in impression with the latter’s goal the highlight of the game. The second 75-minute match of the two starts at 8pm.
Colchester: Gerken, Welch-Hayes, Smith, Senior, Pell (Marshall-Miranda 46), Brown, Kensdale, Clampin (Kazeem 57 (Bramall 68)), Poku, Gambin, McLeod.
Town: Wright, Vincent-Young, Ward (Smith 58), Nsiala, Woolfenden, Skuse (McGavin 58), Bishop, Huws (El Mizouni 46), Dobra, Edwards, Drinan. Subs: Folami.