COLCHESTER United will visit Ipswich Town in the Carabao Cup first round.

The U's will make the short trip to play their Suffolk neighbours at Portman Road, following this afternoon's draw broadcast live on Sky Sports News.

The tie presents an opportunity for Colchester's numerous former Ipswich players to return to their former club.

Cole Skuse, Freddie Sears, Luke Chambers, Tommy Smith, Alan Judge, Frank Nouble and Tom Eastman could all feature against the club they represented, earlier in their career.

Colchester boss Wayne Brown will also be returning to the club where he began his professional playing career and for whom he made more than 50 league and cup appearances.

The first-round tie will take place in the week commencing August 8.

The last time Colchester played Ipswich in a competitive match was in November last year, when the two sides met in a Papa John's Trophy group match, which finished 0-0.

Colchester will be looking to reach the second round of the Carabao Cup for the first time since 2019.

The U's have bowed out of the competition at the first-round stage in each of the last two seasons to Championship opposition.

They were beaten 1-0 at Birmingham City last season and in the 2018-19 campaign, lost 3-1 at Reading.

Colchester enjoyed a magnificent run under John McGreal in the 2019-20 competition, reaching the quarter-finals for only the second time in their history.

They beat Premier League sides Spurs and Crystal Palace, before bowing out to Manchester United at Old Trafford in the last eight.

Meanwhile Colchester will face Brighton and Hove Albion under-21s in Group A of this season's Papa John's Trophy.

Albion's youngsters have completed the group line-up, which also includes the U's, Charlton Athletic and Gillingham.

The Brighton under-21 game could see former Colchester academy youngster Todd Miller return to the JobServe Community Stadium.