Town boss Kieran McKenna felt there were good things to be taken from both halves of the Blues’ 1-1 draw with Premier League new boys Luton Town at Colchester United’s Jobserve Community Stadium.
Wes Burns’s cross-shot gave Town the lead in the first half by Carlton Morris levelled from the penalty spot in the second.
The result and performance was a great improvement from the displays against League One sides Cambridge United and Stevenage at the weekend, games two different Town sides both lost 2-1.
"You can’t compare, we’re trying to get different things out of different games,” McKenna said. "Tonight was a game that we wanted to play against a good opponent, go at the first half with a real intensity.
"We prepared the game properly and focused on delivering a performance and I thought the performance was really good.
"Lots of good things on and off the ball in the first half, and even in the second half, it ends up with more individual moments because it’s hard to get that cohesion with so many changes, but on an individual basis in the second half, there was some really good stuff and I enjoyed the game.”
Town more than held their own against a Luton team which will be playing in the top flight during the season ahead but McKenna says he’s not getting carried away.
"I don’t think you can ever read to much into it,” he said. "We played League One teams at the weekend, we’re playing a Premier League team tonight, or are going to be a Premier League team.
"I don’t think you can over-read into these things. I’m pretty sure on where we’re at and where we need to keep improving but the things that we’re doing well, every day in training and every little bit of match exposure is to work on those things.
"I thought it was a really good game, nice to be back in front of the supporters, made me excited to get back to Portman Road to that atmosphere and I could feel that with the players as well, they really enjoyed having the home support.
"It gives us that excitement again to start the season next week and to get back to Portman Road the week after.”
Regarding the goal, Burns’s cross appearing to find its way into the net without Nathan Broadhead getting a touch, McKenna said he wasn’t sure who scored it and there were no dressing room arguments.
"I’ve not seen it and I’ve not spoken to them about it, there’s not been too much chatter,” he continued. "I think they’ll fight over goals whenever the season starts.”
The Welsh international duo were among a number of impressive performers in the first half.
"Two very different roles, of course, on the right and the left side,” he said. "I thought everyone played well in the first half, to be fair, but they were both part of it.
"I think Janoi [Donacien] and Wes coming back into the team in the first half and getting their relationship with Conor [Chaplin] going again was a real positive for us and Broady was excellent for the time he was on the pitch.
"He’s getting stronger and hopefully he’s not got too much of an issue with the little quad injury that he came off with and he’s looking forward to the season.
"He just said he felt something tight in his quads, so when that’s the case in pre-season, you don’t take any risk at all, so we got him off and we’ll see how it is tomorrow.”
Burns and Donacien returned after missing previous friendlies with minor problems which probably wouldn’t have kept them out of competitive fixtures.
"It’s a fine balance between having to push the group hard because we’re going up to a higher level than they’ve been before,” McKenna continued.
"Some of them have played in the Championship, some of them haven’t, but we want to play in a certain style in the Championship and the demands for that are going to be really high.
"We have to push them really hard and we are pushing them hard and they’re working very hard and enjoying the work.
"At the same time, it’s about finding that balance and protecting them when we need to and when somebody’s tight or feeling something, you maybe give them some extra time than you would in the season. It’s about arriving at the start line in Sunderland in as good a condition as we possibly can.”
Many fans at the Jobserve Community Stadium got their first look at new loan signing Omari Hutchinson and will have liked what they saw, the Chelsea man showing his quick feet and pacy running having come off the bench at half-time.
McKenna was asked whether it was his job now to help the youngster integrate his skills into senior football.
"It’s a natural process for any 19-year-old coming out of U21 football,” he reflected. "You can see the talent, you can see the technical and skill level, you can see the enthusiasm for the game. He’s shown some good bits of work off the ball, which is a good starting point.
"The supporters I think will enjoy him, and we’re enjoying having him here. Of course, it’s about how he and how we help him to hone that talent now.
"I think he’s got some great examples in this squad of players who are learning and are currently maximising their talent in terms of how they put that effectively into a team and that’s a process for him that he’ll find over the next few years - different teams he’ll play in, how he can find a role in those teams where he can utilise and bring that talent out and turn that into, as a forward player, assists and goals and good things for the team.
"I’ve seen that process through with lots of young players and it’s exciting to have Omari here and we think that he can contribute to the team and we think that he’ll develop a lot being part of that team.”
While Burns and Donacien returned to the team, Massimo Luongo missed out having picked up a niggle at Cambridge and Harry Clarke remains on the sidelines.
"Massimo’s not too serious but he felt a little issue in his adductor, so we’ll have to see how he is but at the moment it’s unlikely we’ll bring him on the Austria trip, we’ll probably let him recover,” the Blues manager continued.
"Harry Clarke, we’re reviewing at the moment, he’s had a longer standing issue with his achilles.
"He had a course of treatment over the off-season that the club hoped would clear it but it hasn’t cleared it so far, so we’re reviewing what the next course of action is with him.”
Reflecting on the club’s second summer visit to Austria, in which the Blues will face RB Leipzig and Werder Bremen at the Innsbruck Cup in 60-minute matches on Friday, McKenna said: "A really exciting trip, two 60-minute games against very, very high level opponents, so it’s going to be a massive step up.
"It’s going to be a challenge for us, especially missing the bodies but it’s one we’ll go and embrace.
"I’m sure we’ll learn from it and we’ll get things from it and we have to have a good discussion with the group over the next day or two about what we’re going to get out of the games and how we’re going to approach them.
"It will be a good experience and a great way to finish off the pre-season campaign, not just on the pitch but also off the pitch, going away together and then really we come back and from Monday onwards we can really focus and enjoy and look forward to the big game coming up next weekend.”
The Northern Irishman says he’ll be splitting his squad across the two games to ensure everyone gets more time under their belts: "No secret, that will be the plan, all being well we’ll get 60 minutes into everyone who is here tonight.”
One player who won’t be going to Austria is Cam Humphreys, who took a blow to the head at Preston last week.
"No, his concussions protocols will run through until the weekend,” McKenna added. "So it’ll be the following week before he’s back.”
Asked to reflect on what’s most pleased him about pre-season so far, McKenna said: "We’ve got through a lot of work. We’ve really pushed the players in a good way and we need to because we’re going to a higher level and the physical demands of the Championship are a big, big step up statistically from League One, so we need to be ready to make that step up.
"We’ve got through a lot of work. I think you can see on the pitch, whenever we focus into a game and prepare the game that the chemistry and the connections from last year are still there and we want to strengthen and improve them now.
"On a tactical level and in our football, we know that the good elements of our game are still there and I think we’ve been able to push the players to another level physically and we need to keep doing that.”