Colchester United's U23s have drawn 1-1 with Reading in the Premier League Cup
The young U’s came up against a decent Reading side that were attacking right from the first whistle, looking for an early goal.
They nearly took the lead after ten minutes as Tyler Frost unleashed a shot that would have stung the palms of Colchester keeper Bailey Vose.
Vose had to be on his best to keep out the away attackers throughout the first half, pulling off a brilliant save to deny Conor Lawless.
The Reading man curled an effort towards the top corner with Vose flying over to his right to push the ball over the bar for a corner.
Reading took the lead with eight minutes left to play in the first half as Jeriel Dorsett picked out Frost who had made a run between Weaire and Kensdale in the home defence.
Frost took the ball towards goal and stuck into the far bottom corner beyond Vose to give his side the lead.
The U's went close to an equaliser just before the half time whistle blew, as Diogo Freitas-Gouveia volleyed the ball narrowly wide of Boyce-Clarke’s goal but couldn’t find the target, and Reading went into the break with a one goal advantage.
The U’s came out attacking in the second half, but didn’t get their reward straight away because Coniah Boyce-Clarke was proving a difficult man to beat between the sticks.
It wasn’t until the seventy-second minute that he was beaten.
Second half substitute for the U's, Andre Hasanally, latched on to a through ball from Miquel Scarlett and fired across Boyce-Clarke and into the bottom corner to level the scores.
Bailey Vose was tested again after the U’s had got themselves level but was again up to the challenge.
The Royals goal-scorer, Tyler Frost, was once again one-on-one with the U’s ‘keeper but Vose made himself big and protected his goal well.
Hasanally went close once more before the end of the game but couldn’t find the same corner he did before as he shot just wide of the post with ten minutes to play.
The U's couldn’t create another goal scoring chance against the Reading defence but held their own, ensuring the game finished 1-1.