Wycombe Wanderers 0 Colchester United 2

Chris Porter slid home his first goal of the season, and Sammie Szmodics added a cracking second, to seal Colchester United’s first away victory of the campaign at arch rivals Wycombe Wanderers this afternoon.

The opener was a well-worked goal from the visitors, arriving in the 63rd minute.

Porter cushioned Tom Eastman’s delivery into the path of Szmodics, and the midfielder slid the ball across the face of goal for Porter to stick out a boot and divert home from just four yards out.

It was a real poacher’s effort from the U’s front-man.

Szmodics then obliged with a sensational strike, to double the U’s lead in the 82nd minute, and so secure all three points.

The impressive Szmodic latched onto Porter’s lay-off and thumped an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net, from the edge of the box.

It was a wonderful strike, worthy of wrapping up the three points.

U’s boss McGreal made three changes to the side that lost 2-0 at Portsmouth last weekend.

There were recalls for Drey Wright, Szmodics and Porter, who had all been dropped to the bench at Fratton Park, with McGreal reverting to the same starting XI that had won the previous two games, at home to Cambridge and Grimsby.

Former U’s midfielder, Marcus Bean, was in Wycombe’s starting XI.

Wanderers threatened first when Adebayo Akinfenwa’s attempted shot on the turn, with his back to goal, was blocked at point blank range by Eastman, on the edge of the six-yard box.

U’s old boy Bean had a sight of goal, from Akinfenwa’s lay-off in the eighth minute, but the ex-Brentford stalwart scooped his shot well over the bar from a good position.

At the other end, Sammie Szmodics had a golden chance to break the deadlock on 10 minutes.

However, he failed to connect cleanly with his initial shot, from Brennan Dickenson’s cross, and Bean then intervened with a last ditch tackle on the edge of the six-yard box, before Szmodics could get away a second effort.

Eastman produced a superb piece of defending to deny Wycombe an opening goal in the 15th minute. Dayle Southwell was ready to sweep home, after a free-kick had been headed on, but Eastman stuck out a leg to divert the ball to safety.

The U’s failed to clear the ensuing corner, and keeper Sam Walker was relieved to see centre-half Aaron Pierre’s free header, from Danny Rowe’s cross, sail just inches wide of the near post.

After a period of cat-and-mouse, the U’s were on the attack just before the half-hour mark.

Drey Wright drilled a swerving 20-yarder straight at keeper Jamal Blackman, who clutched the ball to his midriff, and fellow winger Dickenson cracked in an even better effort, which Blackman was at full stretch to claw away.

In the 39th minute, Garry Thompson took a tumble in the box, under a challenge from Richard Brindley, but referee John Brooks immediately reached for a yellow card to book the winger, for diving, rather than award a penalty.

Into the second half and powerhouse Akinfenwa had a header deflected wide from Sam Wood’s 50th minute free-kick, following a foul by Guthrie.

Chances had dried up, for both sides, until Porter broke the deadlock with the U’s first chance of the second half, prodding home Szmodics’ low delivery from point blank range on 63 minutes.

It was Porter’s first goal of the campaign.

Wycombe came close to an equaliser in the 69th minute, Bean’s goal-bound shot being deflected over the bar, off Eastman’s body.

Nine minutes later and home keeper Blackman had to be alert to beat away Dickenson’s cleanly-struck low drive, down at his near post.

But Blackman had no chance as Szmodics crashed home a superb second, with eight minutes remaining.

WYCOMBE: Blackman, Jombati, Pierre, Stewart, Southwell, Harriman, Bean, Wood (sub Hayes, 72), Rowe (sub Bloomfield, 81), Thompson (sub Freeman, 81), Akinfenwa. Unused subs: Richardson, McGinn, De Havilland.

COLCHESTER: Walker, Brindley, Prosser, Eastman, Kinsella, Lapslie (sub Slater, 87) Wright, Guthrie, Szmodics (sub Wynter, 85), Dickenson, Porter (sub Johnstone, 84). Unused subs: Bransgrove, Vincent-Young, Bonne, Sembie-Ferris.

Referee: John Brooks (Leics)