Town's reserves comfortably beat Colchester United 4-0 at Playford Road on Wednesday afternoon, with centre-back Tommy Smith netting a brace and Andy Drury and Conor Hourihane scoring one each.

Town fielded a fairly strong side, with most of the starting line-up having experienced some first team action at some point during the season.

Smith opened the scoring after just seven minutes when he flicked in an Andy Drury freekick from the right.

Drury got his name on the scoresheet on 14 when he slid the ball home from another cross from the wide areas.

It was threatening to turn into a rout as Town scored from every attack - Smith adding his second just two minutes later with a header.

The U's defence started to show some signs of tightening up, but it was breached again on 28 when Reggie Lambe played a ball through and Conor Hourihane capitalised on some weak defending by Morten Knudsen to slide past Carl Pentney.

Town had the game comfortably won with Smith and Troy Brown dominating everything at the back. The only other real action of the first half was when referee Rob Whitton was replaced by assistant Euan Goodman just before the interval when the man in the middle injured his ankle.

The Blues then made a triple substitution at half-time, with Drury, Darren O'Dea and Smith making way for David Cawley, Rory McKeown and Tom Eastman respectively.

Town made a bright start to the second half and McKeown's cross was turned just wide by Civelli before Colchester started to come into the game a bit more; Medy Elito having a shot deflected just wide of Arran Lee-Barrett's post.

Centre-half Brown then made a great block to deny Jordan Sanderson after some hesitancy in the Blues defence.

McKeown was getting forward well and hit a right-foot shot just over the bar, and Reggie Lambe came close to increasing Town's advantage in the final few minutes with a shot that flew just over.

Overall, Town had the game well won by half-time and just strolled through the second half. Watching first team boss Paul Jewell, who was happy to sign autographs throughout, will have been impressed with Hourihane's presence in midfield and Luke Hyam's energy in midfield. Andy Drury again looked fairly quiet, although his set pieces were dangerous throughout.

Town: Lee-Barrett, Ainsley, O'Dea (McKeown 46), Hyam, Smith (Eastman 46), Brown, Drury (Cawley 46), Hourihane, Lambe, Clark, Civelli. Unused: McLoughlin, Burke.

Report: James Ager

Photo: Action Images

juniorblue added 16:17 - Feb 16 We cannot stop scoring and winning! Well done lads...
0

ben225 added 16:18 - Feb 16 y dont we stick smith up front with wickham!!!!lol
0

hogster1970 added 16:23 - Feb 16 drury must creak crakered played at dony last night, mind you they all must be on a high
0

ThatMuhrenCross added 16:24 - Feb 16 We do need to make sure Smith is ready to step in and become a first team regular when either McAuley or Delaney leave the club, for whatever reason - he's a very talented defender. If we could get him out on a season long loan to a Championship club next season, that would do him no harm at all. Looks as though Doncaster must be in need of a defender!
0

DiamondGezzer added 16:25 - Feb 16 Looks like Tommy Smith is trying to knock on the door. The winning mentality is catching on fast and long may it continue. Well done the lads. Could Andy Drury be that undiscovered talent ?
0

dirtydingusmagee added 16:41 - Feb 16 WELL DONE LADS, seems like the changes have got everyone going , great stuff, COYB
0

bedsitfc added 16:55 - Feb 16 Drury will net again against hull, with bullard and norris out. He will start and i think we will be playing 4-4-2.
0

TractorMan added 16:56 - Feb 16 Drury played very well in this game too, setting up two and scoring one of the goals. An obvious replacement for Jimmy on Saturday I think, especially with coming off at half-time.
0

TractorBeezer added 16:57 - Feb 16 All teams rocking now!!
0

Wallingford_Boy added 17:18 - Feb 16 Strange comment at the end about Drury "again looking quiet".... despite setting up two goals and scoring one in the 45 mins he was on the pitch!!
0

hollywoodginge added 18:36 - Feb 16 I was thinking the same Wallingford_boy, well done smudge on ur 2 goals!!
0

tractorblue99 added 18:55 - Feb 16 If thats drury on a quiet night then I cant wait to see him when he's on fire!!!
0

bluelady added 19:29 - Feb 16 How was civelli?
0

brittaniaman added 20:33 - Feb 16 Civelli kept very busy for the whole game, so he is coming up to match fitness, one or two nice touches and not afraid to get stuck in now, very much a left sideded player who a short while ago we desperately needed.4 goals in half an hour not bad, noticed a difference when they took Odea Smith and Drury off. Glad to see all the coaching staff watching at Playford rd.and leaving Chris Kiwomya to run the game

0

Itfc_For_Life added 22:56 - Feb 16 got a qaulity squad now! come on town, got 16 games left, can afford to lose 4 of them so comon play offs here we come!
0

brian_a_mul added 08:55 - Feb 17 Drury had a quiet game?? He only played 45 minutes, got a goal and x2 assists! It seems himself, O Dea and Smith will be involved in the squad (on the bench) for next game. Why risk them getting injured when team is 4-0 up at half time in a reserve game. Maybe Civilli (played 90 min) will not get a place on bench at weekend. Also good to see Hyam, Brown and Hourihane impressing too. Murray diddnt play so maybe he is in line for some action at the weekend too!! I hope so as he has been on good form in reserves recently and deserves some game time.

0

fourth added 16:07 - Feb 17 Tommy Smith is a huge player. The world cup team was dominated by his play. I think that we will find that with some sort of game plan (which we now have, I believe), young TS will play an important role (whatever it is!!). The lad has been playing football non stop at quite a high level for 2 years and it is remarkable that he hasn't been hit by the world cup reaction that practically all of the England team have experienced

0

Blogs 295 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls