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Colchester United 1-0 Ipswich Town - Match Report
Tuesday, 12th Nov 2019 21:28

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).


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cat added 21:38 - Nov 12
Fair play to the ‘hard core masses' on their travels. Losing breeds disappointment. Noth said....
5

ringwoodblue added 21:47 - Nov 12
Just like on Sat, a defeat that could've been avoided if we had played a slightly better team. Now we have an away fixture in the knockout stage instead of playing at PR.

And how on earth did the Colchester goalscorer get a ball to go over Holy Giant and into the goal????
6

martin587 added 21:48 - Nov 12
Good support once again nothing more to add.🙁
3

leftie1972 added 21:57 - Nov 12
Should've won with that team irrespective!
5

alfromcol added 21:59 - Nov 12
No words can discribe such an inept performance.
2

Sharkey added 22:03 - Nov 12
It's a fair question, above. How DO you get a ball past a 7-foot keeper from 40 yards?
2

Sharkey added 22:03 - Nov 12
It's a fair question, above. How DO you get a ball past a 7-foot keeper from 40 yards?
0

brassy added 22:05 - Nov 12
Embarrasing.
4

timkatieadamitfc added 22:05 - Nov 12
Don't care about this competition one jot, just keep giving the youngsters some game time(even if we keep progressing)
Also our away form is better than home generally so may not be a bad thing.
4

budgieplucker added 22:08 - Nov 12
Any side has to have goal scorers in the team, without Norwood, Jackson, Nolan and Garbutt it was difficult to see where a goal was going to come from, just maybe Huws or Edwards.

Even though he wasn't selected I excluded the possibility of Keane In the above analysis because he still has to prove that he is capable of scoring goals. I think under the circumstances a draw would have been a fair and good result but so disappointing that we might end up going to say Exeter away when we could have rewarded our long suffering and travelling fans with another home match. You just get the impression this is a step to far for PL at the moment - he is going to be as stubborn as MM on this issue.

At least let's learn from this; Giorgio needs to go back to Tottenham in January, although he is a half decent player he clearly isn't going to nail down a starting position in the line up.

Nsiala nearly gave away another clumsy penalty and is a walking liability.

Let's get Donacien out on loan and recoup some wages and see if we can find another decent backup to KVY.
8

budgieplucker added 22:11 - Nov 12
.....Oh and we need another decent striker in January, preferably a lump who can provide a target man option and a bit of raw power
10

DifferentGravy added 22:12 - Nov 12
Well, it was described as a dead rubber so nothing (apart from home field advantage) lost there. On a plus note....Glad to see youngsters being blooded and players getting a game under their belt.

Lambert has mentioned that its a long season and that its important to rotate the squad so that all players are fit and up to speed....as and when he feels the need for them to step in.
With this policy in mind, all of the (non injured) fringe players should now be up to speed. They have had regular first team inclusion, Under 23 and cup competitions to keep ticking over.

However, what i find disconcerting is that when some of these fringe players have stepped in the level of performance has been poor and we have struggled(Gillingham, Ac Stanley, Lincoln are examples). Also, any match where Norwood/Jackson combo arent playing or Lambert reverts to one up top.....we struggle.

I appreciate the need for regularity and confidence but they have played on numerous occasions in a team that are top of the league! Personally, i feel a few of these players simply arent good enough and (not including the EFL trophy) continuously rotating the squad to rest players is unnecessary and hindering the team performance. If a player is exhausted (or injured) due to the schedule....rest him.

Hmm.....whens our next league game......sigh
2

ArnieM added 22:19 - Nov 12
Another cup game where Town field a mish mash collection of 11 players- certainly not an established “ team”. Which is why it's painful to watch as there is no fluency to play because the players simply never play together usually.

On the plus side, Lambert has used these games to give game time to returning injured players and young players needing valuable experience - some of whom will have gained a lot from this experience personally .

We move on
1

runningout added 22:24 - Nov 12
Not sure I should be as concerned as I am to what direction we are going in, in league and the cup competitions
0

GatesPerm added 22:40 - Nov 12
I really do not care about this competition.

Keep playing the kids and if we progress then great and if we don't then so be it.

The only thing that matters this season is winning promotion. Surely, there cannot be any Ipswich fans out there who want us to do a Sunderland/Portsmouth and reach the final of this worthless competition and fail to gain promotion.
5

Blue_Moses added 22:40 - Nov 12
Nothing upfront again, awful game. At least give us fans something to get excited about.
4

alfromcol added 23:17 - Nov 12
Just looked at the results, has Lambert got a cunning plan. We might get an away tie against Brighton U21s OR Chelsea U21s
1

Linkboy13 added 23:23 - Nov 12
Neither team deserved to win this abysmal game. On the evidence of this game we're looking a bit light weight in the striker department. Georgiou looked disinterested coming from a big club like Tottenham thinks he's better than what he is, if he's going to hold down a first team place must work much harder.
2

shakytown added 23:53 - Nov 12
Why do we bother even putting a team on the field in these cup games as the manager and owner clearly have no interest in them.
4

TimmyH added 23:58 - Nov 12
Poor at all levels in cup comps...it seems.
4

RobITFC added 00:37 - Nov 13
Oh well, surely we must beat Blackpool 10 nil as 1st team will be so rested ;)
4

RobITFC added 00:38 - Nov 13
Yes that is the next league game still 10 days away!!!!
0

BettyBlue added 04:03 - Nov 13
The most important fact that we have leaned over the last two games is that automatic promotion with Paul Lambert is far from certain.
His poor decision making and management has landed us with an away FA cup replay and an away leg in the EFL Trophy.
Not only that but it also show a total lack of respect for the amazing fans. The manager needs to realize that the level of support is not unconditional and that he might want to take their opinions into account while he is deliberately throwing games so he can make his job supposedly easier.
Football in League One is a simple game. If you're fielding sides that have no interest in winning a game then something is seriously wrong.
I doubt Paul Lambert has the self awareness that he's cocked up the last two games.
4

BettyBlue added 04:08 - Nov 13
As everyone keeps saying promotion is the only objective this season but why would you not use these cup games to improve the 1st team. What has PL learnt from fielding two teams with no relationship with the first team, no recognizable pattern of play and no chance of the team building momentum. What a waste of time and money.
7

Cakeman added 06:52 - Nov 13
Yes it's a good learning curve for the youngsters and also good for the the fringe players to get some game time. However we have lost the opportunity over the past two cup games to seriously build some momentum which could carry us through to the end of the season and beyond.
Also we all know Paul Lambert has brought the club together again to great effect but the patience of the supporters will be tested if we have a repeat of the past couple of games. 2600+ at Col U last night was a tremendous turnout but I would imagine we won't be seeing that number anymore unless we field our best available teams. I certainly won't be attending cup games again unless there is a rethink.
5


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