On-loan Blues forward Armando Dobra made his Colchester United debut as the League Two side were beaten 1-0 by Gillingham in the opening fixture in Town’s Papa John’s Trophy group earlier this evening.

Dobra, 20, who is with the U’s for the season, started and put in a lively display over the full 90 minutes.

Robbie McKenzie scored the winner for the Gills from a cross from former Blues loanee Mustapha Carayol, who had come off the bench in the 82nd minute.

Dobra and Carayol were far from the only ex-Town players in action at the JonServe Community Stadium with Frank Nouble skippering the U’s, Tom Eastman starting and Freddie Sears and Alan Judge subs. Former Town youngster Stuart O’Keefe was in the Gillingham side.

The Blues play their first Papa John’s Trophy tie at home to West Ham’s U21s on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, Tyreece Simpson came on as a 63rd-minute sub as Swindon beat Arsenal’s U21s 2-1 at the County Ground, also in the Papa John’s Trophy.

Photo: Matchday Images

Pique added 05:18 - Sep 8 Dobra isn't an ex-Town player!
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Linkboy13 added 10:01 - Sep 8 Very good player but needs to do more in last third of the pitch in terms of creating chances. Good on the eye but no end product otherwise would not have gone out on loan.
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Pilgrimblue added 10:26 - Sep 8 Hopefully he'll get more game time but he definitely needs to improve in last third and score more goals and assists. Maybe then he'll be back at PR.
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ringwoodblue added 11:52 - Sep 8 Does anyone know if Dobra will be prohibited from playing against us in the upcoming Papa John's Trophy matches. Is this a tournament rule or does it depend on the actual loan agreement?
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blues1 added 12:07 - Sep 8 Ringwoodblue. From what I can gather in the competition rules, he can play unless there was something put in the loan agreement saying we wouldnt allow it. I would suspect we would likely have done so.
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Sharkey added 12:56 - Sep 8 I can't see why Town would try to stop him playing. The better the opposition, the more worthwhile the game.
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Fat_Boy_Tim added 15:47 - Sep 8 Sharkey- Just the risk that if he got injured by, or injured one of our other players there would be a hell of a stink about it! Also, we will undoubtedly put out a weakened team and it'll tough enough to win against some very motivated old boys.
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Tractor_Boy_in_HK added 06:43 - Sep 9 Phil, one correction: Mustapha Carayol was actually our player, signed on a short term deal from Jan 2018 for the remainder of the season. We didn't take him on loan. But he was largely forgettable, so you're forgiven for not remembering the details.
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Kirbmeister added 13:14 - Sep 9 I think he'll end up another Danny Haynes. Quick, tricky but never any end product.
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dude added 12:28 - Sep 12 Prefer if we kelp him honestly.
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