Colchester United were taking on Birmingham City in a Professional Development League clash at Maldon & Tiptree on a cloudy Monday afternoon.
Dave Huzzey named a young starting eleven with the likes of Max Jolliffe and Kai Martin coming out for the first forty-five minutes. The U’s promising new signing Oliver Godziemski also played a part in the clash starting on the bench.
Both teams began the match brightly with the spectators at Park Drive treated to a very early goal when Bailey Berry put the ball into his own net following a pass back to Collins who was caught out.
With four minutes on the clock, the U’s should have equalised through two strikes from close range from Thorn and Oliver following a corner but both efforts were brilliantly saved by Mayo in Birmingham’s goal.
Despite missing the two good chances, Colchester found themselves level just five minutes later when Oliver played a phenomenal through ball to a trialist who found himself one-on-one with the visitors’ goalkeeper and converted with ease.
The tempers then flared slightly when the Blues attempted a quick break, only for it to be prevented by a pulling foul by Berry. There were plenty of shouts for a red card from the visitors, but the referee deemed it to be a yellow card offence.
The rest of the half didn’t see much action with Collins forced to make two important saves, which kept the sides level at half-time.
The U’s started the second half with real intensity and should have gone ahead after fifty-three minutes when Thorn’s brilliant volley slammed against the post.
With the match at a stalemate, Huzzey opted for two changes with twenty minutes to go – Oliver Godziemski and Jet Dyer replaced Kaleel Green and Kai Martin respectively.
The substitutions brought fresh energy and Colchester started dominating, creating a couple of decent chances, most notably with one of the trialists hitting the post again following a great run and pass from Ryan Lowe.
Nonetheless, it was the visitors’ who should have stolen all three points from Park Drive when the referee pointed to the spot after eighty-six minutes. Ted Collins, however, came up with a phenomenal save to keep the score level.
Despite five minutes added on, the score never changed with the U’s having to settle for a point.
Colchester United Started XI: 1. Collins, 2. Berry, 3. Lowe, 4. Oliver, 5. Aman, 6. Jolliffe, 7. Trialist, 8. Martin, 9. Green, 10. Trialist, 11. Thorn (C)
Subs: 29. Chamberlain, 12. Dyer, 14. Kosoko, 15. James, 16. Godziemski
