Colchester United's U18s made it through to the Fourth Round of the FA Youth Cup on Thursday night, with an impressive 2-0 win over Crewe Alexandra.
The U's boys scored a goal in each half to progress past the Alex and showed real resilience to keep the visitors at the bay before sealing the game at the end of the match.
Chris Llewellyn's side went close after nine minutes when Rob Howard headed just wide, then Callum Jones smashed a shot just wide midway through the half.
Crewe should maybe have scored two minutes later as George Nunn headed over from close range and they were made to pay just after the half hour mark.
Ollie Sims broke the deadlock, moving the ball onto his left foot before curling home a sensational effort to beat the Crewe keeper.
Regan Griffiths almost drew Crewe level just after half time, but the U's also had a good opportunity to go further ahead when Dean Ager's shot was well saved.
The Alex pressed for an equaliser but the U's secured the win with five minutes to go when Noah Chilvers calmly finished past the keeper to double the lead.
The U's are into Round Four and they'll host MK Dons in the new year.