“It was an ideal game for us” – Colchester United manager John McGreal

Colchester United eased to a 3-0 win at Ryman North hosts Maldon & Tiptree in their first pre-season friendly of the summer, at Park Drive this afternoon.

The U’s were 1-0 up at half-time, thanks to a fortuitous goal from Dexter Peter, one of seven new U’s faces on show.

Young centre-half Dexter’s attempted long-range lofted pass was caught in the wind, sailing from the half-way line into the roof of the net, on 29 minutes.

U’s manager John McGreal completely changed his side for the second half, and the new-look U’s added two more goals.

Macauley Bonne fired home the second from Sammie Szmodics’ pass, in the 81st minute, before Matt Briggs scored the goal of the game with a wonderful solo effort on 89 minutes.

McGreal said: “We had two teams out, with six or seven new players all getting some minutes.

“It was an ideal game for us, and it ticked a lot of boxes.

“We’ve got a strong squad, with strength in depth. We mixed up the XIs today, a bit of experience in the first half, and a bit more youthful in the second, with a little bit of experience. We’ve got a lot of permutations.

“The (Dexter Peter) goal was really meant as a high, diagonal ball up to the centre forward, but he’s done particularly well since he’s come in.

“We’ve had one or two injuries in that area (central defence), so we brought him into the first team squad,” added McGreal.

Centre-halves Tom Eastman, Frankie Kent and Jamie Harney all missed out through injuries.

Eastman is on the comeback trail after a broken metatarsal from the last game of last season.

Colchester United teams

First-half: Bransgrove, Vincent-Young, Elokobi, Peter, O’Donoghue, Garvan, Loft, Sembie-Ferris, Guthrie, Dickenson, Porter.

Second-half: Barnes, Brindley, Wynter, Prosser, Briggs, Lapslie, Slater, Szmodics, Bonne, Wright, Johnstone.