COLCHESTER United's under-23s were beaten 3-1 at Charlton Athletic this afternoon, in their latest Professional Development League Two clash, writes BRIAN WALLER.

Kevin Horlock's side were beaten at a very windy Sparrows Lane in New Eltham, Surrey.

Colchester had a very difficult first half which saw them 3-0 down by half-time.

It took the Addicks just seven minutes to take the lead when Reece Hackett-Fairchild put away the opportunity into the bottom right hand corner of the net.

It soon became 2-0 when Alfie Doughty turned well and scored from a tight angle on the quarter hour mark.

And four minutes before the break, Albie Morgan fired in a third goal for Charlton with a shot from the edge of the area.

However, the wild conditions were to aid Colchester on 55 minutes when Ken Charles' effort saw the wind catch his shot from the edge of the area and the swirl took it into the net.

Charlton were reduced to ten men with 21 minutes to go when Dan Birch was sent after a confrontation.

But it made no difference to the scoreline, as Colchester were beaten.

U's under-23 squad: Ethan Ross, Sam Cornish, David Agboola, Al-Amin Kazeem, Ken Charles, Tyrique Hyde, Jake Hutchinson, Todd Miller, Billy Cracknell, Harvey Sayer, Dean Ager, Callum Anderson, Tariq Issa, Andre Hasanally, Callum Jones, Callum Coulter.