Carling Cup Preview: The Blues v The U's

Having battled to a 1-1 draw with Scunthorpe United in their opening league game of the season, Wycombe Wanderers entertain Colchester United on Tuesday evening in the first round of the Carling Cup.

It's the first of two clashes between the old rivals in the space of four days, with the Blues due to travel to Colchester at the weekend for their second league game of the season.

Like the Chairboys, the U's opened their campaign against a side relegated from the Championship and did well to upset the odds with an impressive 4-2 win at Preston, courtesy of goals from Anthony Wordsworth, Ian Henderson (2) and Kayode Odejayi.

Blues' boss Gary Waddock has already stated his intention to make several changes to the side that faced the Iron, which could mean Marvin McCoy, Leon Johnson, Ben Harding, Kadeem Harris and Stuart Beavon starting against the U's.

Elliot Benyon is close to recovering from a broken hand, but Matt Bloomfield is still a few weeks away from fitness and Kevin Betsy remains on international duty. There's no news yet on midfield-dynamo Stuart Lewis who missed Saturday's game with a virus.

Last Meeting between the Blues & the U's

The two sides last clashed in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy in October 2010 when the Blues travelled to Essex and won 2-0 with goals from Kevin Betsy and Scott Davies.

The Man in the Middle

Tuesday's referee is Pat Miller from Bedfordshire who was promoted to the National List of Referees in 2005. His most recent Wycombe game was last season's 2-1 defeat at home to Macclesfield. At the weekend he took charge of Brentford's 2-0 home win over Yeovil and issued 4 yellow cards.

Prediction

Penalty shoot-out

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