On a glorious sunny and hot afternoon at the Ipswich Town training ground in Playford Road, the high flying home side ran out winners to strengthen their hopes of topping the table.
The match was all square at the break, but it was Ipswich who were to run out winners by the time the final whistle was blown.
The deadlock was broken after just seven minutes, as Armando Dobra's cross was turned into his own net by recent U's signing Tyrique Hyde.
However, the U's were level midway through the first half as Devante Aransabia challenged home keeper Harry Wright and hooked the loose ball home to make it 1-1.
The U's had a decent spell in the first half and went into the interval with the scoreline still at one apiece.
However, Ipswich quickly made it 3-1 after the restart. First, Dobra forced a great save out of Ted Collins, only for Kai Brown to slot home the loose ball.
Brown turned provider for the third, setting up Bailey Clements to score from a central position.
Collins conceded a penalty with ten minutes to go and it was the fouled player, Tommy Hughes, who slotted home the spot kick.
The U's came close to a consolation in injury time, when Tariq Issa struck the bar, and Aransabia was unable to convert the follow-up.
Colchester United: Ted Collins, David Agboola, Ollie Kensdale, Ade Shokunby, Percy Kiangbeni, Todd Miller, Tyrique Hyde, Ken Charles, Louis Dunne and Devante Aransabia
Used subs: Tariq Issa, Dean Ager and Arjanit Krasniqi and unused subs: Callum Coulter and Callum Anderson