Colchester United 0-5 Ipswich Town
The FA Youth Cup, Sixth Round
16 March 2005

Colchester United Under-18s manager Joe Dunne today admitted his team were "hammered" after seeing his side’s brave FA Youth Cup run come to a end.

United, who had won five matches, including a win against Chelsea, to reach the quarter finals for the first time, were destroyed 5-0 at home by a rampant Ipswich Town outfit.

Two goals from England Under-17 international Darryl Knights along with strikes from Aidan Collins, Liam Craig and Billy Clarke earned the Suffolk side a place in the last four.

Dunne had no complaints about the result. He said: "I will take as many positives as I can, but there were not many.

"We got a hammering tonight. But it happens in football. Even the great teams get a hammering at some stage.

"Ipswich had absolute quality and our aim is to do to other teams what they did to us."

Colchester soaked up a lot of pressure in the first half but went in at the interval 1-0 down following Knights’ opening goal on the stroke of half-time.

A Collins header from a Cathal Lordan corner was quickly followed by Knights’ second to put Ipswich 3-0 up with only 54 minutes played.

Town scored twice more to secure their place in the last four for the second time in four years.

They will now face either Watford or Tottenham in a two-legged semi-final as they look to win the trophy for the first time since 1975.

Bryan Klug, Ipswich’s academy director, felt his side could go all the way in the competition.

He said: "I’ve told our players from day one that it will be a very good team that outplays us and it will take a good side to defeat us."