COLCHESTER United make the short trip to play Ipswich Town in the Carabao Cup first round tonight (kick-off 7.45pm).

The U's are aiming to beat their near neighbours and progress to the second round of the competition for the first time since 2019.

From team news to line-ups, key men and the referee, all you need to know can be found below ahead of tonight's game at Portman Road.

U's team news

Colchester boss Wayne Brown could make changes to his starting line-up for tonight's game against Ipswich.

Frank Nouble, Cameron Coxe, John Akinde and Marley Marshall Miranda are all hoping to start, at Portman Road.

Colchester will check on the fitness of left-back Ryan Clampin, who came off with fatigue in the second half of the 1-1 draw with Carlisle United, last weekend.

Colchester will be without Emyr Huws (ankle) and skipper Tommy Smith (foot) for the game against their former club.

Colchester head coach Wayne Brown:

“I’m sure that we’ll take many fans and they’ll be in good voice. which will be massive for us to try and achieve what we want to achieve in the game.

“We’re ultimately going there to do all we can to get a result.

“That’s the business that we’re in."

Predicted line-ups:

Colchester United: Hornby, Coxe, Chambers, Eastman, Tchamadeu, Skuse, Judge, Chilvers, Nouble, Akinde, Sears

Ipswich Town: Hladky, Burgess, Edmundson, Ndaba, Leigh, Vincent-Young, El Mizouni, Humphreys, John-Jules, Jackson, Aluko

Last meeting:

Colchester were at Portman Road last season, in the Papa John's Trophy.

The game finished 0-0 and although Town won a penalty shoot-out 4-3, both teams progressed after West Ham United under-21s were eliminated from the competition due to playing an ineligible player.

Opposition view

Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna: “We want a lot of games at the moment, to be honest.

"It’s a busy August, I think we’ve got eight games guaranteed but nine if we go through against Colchester, so we want a lot of games at the moment.

“If you have a good bill of health in your squad, we’ll have Dominic Ball back with us next week and Corrie [Nbada]’s not a million miles away, so when we have such a bill of health you want a lot of games so people can get opportunities and we can get momentum as a group.

“We hope to go through in the cup and that gives us the opportunity to play another round.”

Odds

Colchester are 7/1 with Paddy Power to cause an upset and claim victory tonight. Ipswich are 4/11 while the draw is 15/4.

Referee

Sam Purkiss is the man in the middle tonight.

Mr Purkiss has refereed two League Two games so far this season, showing six yellow cards in that time.

Fixtures, Carabao Cup first round, tonight: Shrewsbury Town v Carlisle United, Accrington Stanley v Tranmere Rovers, Blackpool v Barrow, Bolton Wanderers v Salford City, Bradford City v Hull City, Doncaster Rovers v Lincoln City, Fleetwood Town v Wigan Athletic, Grimsby Town v Crewe Alexandra, Harrogate Town v Stockport County, Huddersfield Town v Preston North End, Mansfield Town v Derby County, Morecambe v Stoke City, Rochdale v Burton Albion, AFC Wimbledon v Gillingham, Cardiff City v Portsmouth, Charlton Athletic v Queens Park Rangers, Cheltenham Town v Exeter City, Crawley Town v Bristol Rovers, Forest Green Rovers v Leyton Orient, Ipswich Town v Colchester United, Luton Town v Newport County, Milton Keynes Dons v Sutton United, Northampton Town v Wycombe Wanderers, Norwich City v Birmingham City, Oxford United v Swansea City, Walsall v Swindon Town, Reading v Stevenage.