Town: 31 - Ryan Esson, 4 - Stewart Drummond (c) (David Hunt), 5 - Darren Kempson, 8 - Kelvin Langmead, 11 - Michael Symes, 12 - Ben Herd, 17 - Chris Humphrey, 18 - Steven Leslie, 19 - Fola Onibuje (20 - Andy Cooke(9 - Dave Hibbert)), 23 - Marc Tierney, 24 - Jimmy Ryan

Subs: 7 - Marc Pugh, 21 - Chris MacKenzie

Colchester United: 1 - Dean Gerken, 2 - Danny Granville, 3 - John White (29 - Tom Webb), 4 - John Jackson, 7 - Karl Duguid, (c), 9 - Clive Platt, 11 - Mark Yeates, 12 - Pat Baldwin, 14 - Kevin McLeod (27 - Anthony Wordsworth), 16 - George Elokobi, 17 - Luke Guttridge (10 - Kem Izzet)

Subs: 18 - Matthew Connolly, 23 - Marc Cousins

Ref - R Beeby
Assistants - S Cook and G Mellor
Fourth Official - C Dunn

Attendance: 3869 (222)

Gary Peters makes several changes to the side that won convincingly at Lincoln on Saturday, with Marc Tierney, Ryan Esson and Michael Symes returning with trialists Jimmy Ryan and Fola Onibuje tasting their first competitive action in a Town shirt.

The opening 15-minutes saw both sides trying to get the feel of each other as they vied for possession. Colchester were looking strong on the ball but Town were working hard to close down and deny the visitors any space. Town were looking to get balls in to Humphrey down the right and into the front pairing of Symes and Onibuje whenever they could.

Colchester looked dangerous when they broke and Elokobi and McLeod were combining well down the left, they had a good sight of goal when McLeod's good work saw the ball drop to Elokobi some 30 yards from goal, he drove in a vicious low drive that Esson did well to get down and get his body behind.

Town were getting their own good chances around the box and when Drummond rose highest to win a header his effort dropped just over the visitors bar.

Colchester were playing some slick football and a quick break down the centre of the park saw some lovely one touch passing between 3 U's players to put Luke Gutteridge in behind the Town defence but he screwed his shot wide of the post.

Neither side were really settling in the game and a lot of the passing was quite hurried at times and this was making for a stop and start game.

Fola Onibuje had been making a decent debut and had shown a lot of good glimpses of his pace. He showed this pace once again after he powered past his marker and cut in towards goal but an excellent last ditch tackle stopped the big forward and gave Town a corner. Jimmy Ryan was on corner duties and curled over an inviting ball that fell to Michael Symes, he drove in a decent shot but Gerken was equal to it with an excellent reflex save.

with half-time approaching Town were looking stronger but weren't causing the visitors too many problems, the same could be said for Colchester who were playing some neat passing football but didn't have that cutting edge around the Town goal.

half-time: 0-0

Town made a bright start to the second half after a long cross field ball from Leslie found Symes, he cut in towards goal and won a corner. This was curled into the back post where Kempson was powering in but a U's head got in first to give away another corner to Town.

It was Town who were having the better of the attacking play and for 5-minutes they had a good sustained period of pressure. Steve Leslie showed great persistence and strength down the left to win Town a corner, they then had four in a row with a couple of scrambled efforts in the box but just couldn't get that final touch to put the ball home.

Jimmy Ryan was making an impression on the home fans with a very assured performance in the middle if the park, he also showed he had a good eye for goal with a couple of decent of efforts, one a vicious shot from just outside the box that looked a good shout for a Town penalty after a U's player blocked the shot.

There was a moment of concern midway through the half when Stewart Drummond and George Elokobi jumped to challenge, there was clash of heads and both players crashed to the ground, ref Beeby quickly motioned for the physios to come on and both players were ok to continue after treatment.

The chances were still all falling for Town and after some sustained pressure the ball was with Humphrey on the right, he chipped a hanging cross into the box to find Onibuje who got a great header in but it flew inches wide of the post.

With just over quarter of an hour reaming Gary Peters made his first switch bringing off Stewart Drummond to be replaced by David Hunt who was making his Town debut. Then minutes he made a second switch with Andy Cooke coming onto replace Fola Onibuje who had made a solid debut.

Colchester tried to get a period of possession going but it broke down with a ball out from the Town defence to find Cooke, he chested it down to Symes who played the ball down the channel for Cooke to chase, he controlled and then waited for support, the ball was pushed back out to the right for Humphreys who played in an excellent looking cross to the back post towards Cooke but it was just a little over hit.

full-time: 0-0

and onto extra time.

The visitors had the first good effort of extra time after a slick move saw them break down the middle with Platt, he pushed play out to Jackson who then cut the ball back to set-up Wordsworth but luckily for Town he screwed this shot side of the post.

Town had more injury problems with Andy Cooke motioned to bench that he was struggling, he was helped off the pitch but Joe Hinnigan and was replaced by Dave Hibbert.

Colchester were more in control in the first period of extra time, they were seeing a lot more of the ball and were using it a lot better.

Town grabbed the lead minutes into the second period of extra time, David Hunt had shown what he could do with his long throw and the goal came from this. He sped over to take the throw, and then launched in a massive throw into the area to find Darran Kempson who made no mistakes with his downward header to make it 1-0.

Colchester were pushing for the equaliser and putting a lot of pressure onto the Town goal, the home defence were working tirelessly to close down, block and then break up field when the chance arose.

The visitors were handed a life line at the death after Izett pushed the ball past Kempson and the Town defender sent him flying in the box for a penalty. John Jackson placed the ball, he then put in a low shot to Esson's left but the Town keeper sprang across his goal to pull off a great save to deny the visitors.

The visitors were still pushing hard to get the goal back but Town were holding strong, and when they regained possession were doing the professional thing and keeping the ball. They had a great chance at the end to add another goal with Symes doing well but keeper Gerken pulled off a great save and then another as the rebound fell to Hibbert to keep the score at 1-0.

full-time: 1-0