DECARREY Sheriff was the hat-trick hero as Colchester United's under-23s inflicted a 5-2 defeat on their high-flying Ipswich Town counterparts.

The sides met in a Professional Development League fixture at Florence Park this afternoon and, in addition to Sheriff's treble, there were also two more goals for Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe.

Brennan Dickenson got more action his belt, having been named in the hosts' starting line-up.

The winger made his long-awaited comeback from an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) reconstruction 11 days ago, completing almost 30 minutes in the under-23s fixture against Swansea City, and managed another 45 minutes against Town.

He was joined in the U's team by new signing Paul Rooney, who recently made the move from Millwall.

Sheriff broke the deadlock after 25 minutes, winning and converting a penalty, before Ben Folami equalised.

Sheriff fired into the far corner to put Colchester ahead again and completed his hat-trick after a shot from Tariq Issa was saved by Ipswich keeper Harry Wright.

Ogedi-Uzokwe fired into the roof of the net after hesitation in the Town defence and then notched with a brilliant overhead effort to make it 5-1.

Shane McLoughlin pulled one back in the closing stages but it failed to take the gloss off an excellent victory.