Colchester United U23s have beaten Charlton Athletic 2-0.
A tight first half saw few chances at either end, and it was no surprise that it was goalless when the teams went in for the break.
It only took the U's three minutes to break the deadlock after half time though, with Andre Hasanally drilling home a shot that the Addicks' keeper could only parry into the inside of the net.
On sixty nine minutes, the U's doubled their advantage, and it was no more than they deserved for their second half improvement.
Ken Charles ran at the Charlton defence, put Hasanally in with a clever pass, and continued his run into the box.
Hasanally played an equally clever pull back pass and Charles shot low into the bottom corner from just outside the six yard box.
Both sides had chances towards the end, but neither keeper was beaten and the score remained at 2-0 to the U's.
The game started slowly, with neither side able to create anything in the way of clear cut chances.
It wasn’t until a quarter of an hour passed that a chance came, and then there was one at each end.
Both number sixes, Chris Forino for the U’s and Ryan Blumberg for the visitors, had headers at goal, but Forino’s flew over and Blumberg’s gave Bailey Vose an easy save.
Efforts at goal were swapped again a few minutes later, as Charles had a shot blocked, before Albie Morgan struck over the bar for Charlton.
Morgan was causing problems again in the twenty fourth minute, but his low ball across the six yard line was hastily cleared by the U’s.
Two minutes later, the U’s had what was probably their best chance of the half.
Ryan Gondoh drove forward and found Ollie Sims to his left, unfortunately the ensuing shot was straight at Charlton keeper Dillon Phillips.
Vose had to dive full length on twenty nine minutes, pushing away a Jo Cummings header from a corner.
The U’s finished the half on the front foot but Charles shot straight at Phillips, then Hasanally hit his effort from twenty yards well over the crossbar.
Kevin Horlock’s side were also on the front foot at the start of the second period, and scored after only three minutes.
Barnes did well on the right hand side, set up Hassanally and he got the ball onto his right foot and got a shot away.
It was a powerful effort, Phillips could only palm it into the inside netting and the U’s were in the lead.
Charlton tried to get back in the game quickly, but shot high and at Vose with the two efforts they had in the minutes following the opening goal.
Sims was replaced on the hour, with Al-Amin Kazeem coming on at left wingback for the U’s.
Nine minutes later, the home side doubled their advantage, and it was great link up play between Hasanally and Charles.
Charles had good possession on the right, and played an intelligent reverse pass through the Charlton defence for Hasanally to run onto.
The scorer of the U’s first goal got to the byline and played the ball back to the edge of the six yard box, where Charles had made his run after his pass.
Charles confidently sidefooted the ball into the bottom far corner to make it 2-0 to the home side.
It could have been three on seventy four minutes, but San Cornish’ curling effort flew narrowly wide of the target.
Todd Miller and Sam Warde replaced Charles and Forino respectively, but they didn’t see too much goalmouth action in the final minutes of the match.
It was the youngsters’ first win of the season, and a deserved one for the improved second half performance.
Their next fixture is against Premier League side Crystal Palace next Monday, with the young U’s visiting Selhurst Park for the match.
U's: Vose, Barnes, Chilvers, Cornish, Kensdale, Rooney, Forino(Warde 83), Gondoh, Charles(Miller 75), Hasanally, Sims(Kazeem 60).