COLCHESTER United make the trip to play Championship side Cardiff City tonight.
Ahead of the first-round tie, the Gazette picks out five players to have represented both clubs, over recent years.
1 GREG HALFORD
HALFORD needs no introduction to Colchester fans, who saw the versatile youngster rise through their youth set-up at Layer Road to first-team level, where he shone under Phil Parkinson and Geraint Williams.
Having started as a trainee at Layer Road, Halford was handed his U's debut by Parkinson in 2003 and went on to become a firm favourite in North Essex.
Halford clocked up 165 league and cup appearances for Colchester but eventually left to move to then Premier League side Reading for £2.5m, in the summer of 2007.
He joined Cardiff from Rotherham United in January 2017, making 34 league and cup appearances for the Bluebirds before leaving them to join Aberdeen, in the summer of 2018.
Halford, 38, is currently playing for Essex side Hashtag United in the Isthmian Premier.
The experienced utility man, who came through the youth ranks at Colchester, has made more than 500 league appearances for a variety of clubs.
2 EMYR HUWS
FORMER Wales international Huws was released by Colchester at the end of last season, having spent nearly 18 months in North Essex.
His time at the U's was disrupted by injury and the midfielder managed only 11 league starts for the club, after joining them on a free transfer in January, 2021.
A few years prior to joining Colchester, Huws spent the 2016-17 campaign at Cardiff, where he made four appearances after joining them from Wigan Athletic.
Huws is still without a club, following his exit from Colchester.
3 TOMMY O'SULLIVAN
MIDFIELD O'Sullivan started his career at Cardiff, coming through the youth ranks at his boyhood club.
He joined Cardiff at the age of 12 and made three first-team appearances for the Bluebirds before leaving to join Colchester on an 18-month contract in January, 2017.
O'Sullivan found first-team opportunities few and far between under John McGreal at the U's, making seven league and cup appearances before leaving to join Torquay United on loan and then being released.
O'Sullvan has since played for Hereford and currently plays for National League North side, Gloucester City.
4 CAMERON COXE
COXE joined Cardiff's academy at the age of seven and penned professional terms with the Bluebirds, in 2017.
The right-back made his senior Cardiff debut against Burton Albion in the cup in August, 2017.
The defender made three further first-team appearances for Cardiff but was released by the Bluebirds in the summer of 2020, when he was the subject of transfer rumours linking him with a move to Premier League club Manchester City.
Coxe eventually joined Solihull Moors before linking up with Colchester, initially on loan, in July, 2021.
Coxe made 48 league and cup appearances for the U's before leaving to join National League side Boreham Wood, last October.
5 RHYS HEALEY
STRIKER Healey is another player who came through the Cardiff academy, before joining Colchester.
Healey played for the U's during the 2014-15 season after joining them on loan from the Bluebirds in September, 2014.
He made 23 league and cup appearances for the U's under Tony Humes that season, scoring four times in U's colours including on his debut in a 3-0 win at Crewe Alexandra.
Indeed, Healey netted four times in his first six appearances for Colchester before eventually returning to parent club Cardiff in May, 2015.
He went on to play for the likes of Newport County, Torquay United, MK Dons and Toulouse before joining Championship side Watford, earlier this summer.
At the start of his career, Healey had burst into the Cardiff first-team squad in January 2017 under Neil Warnock and made 16 senior league and cup appearances for the Bluebirds, scoring once.
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