After coming through the group stages with a 100% record and without conceding a goal, U’s recorded another clean sheet in the first knock out round at home to Stevenage, a game that ended goalless before Dean Bouzanis saved three penalties in a row in the shootout to put U’s through to the round of sixteen stage.

Colchester’s progress through the group stages came as a result of West Ham suffering a points deduction for fielding an ineligible player, which saw the Essex U’s move in to second place behind group A winners Ipswich, and in the first knock out round they beat Swindon 2-1 in Wiltshire.

The sides met at the Jobserve Community Stadium at the end of October, U’s recovering from Freddie Sears’ early goal to win 3-1 with goals from David Ajiboye, Rob Milsom(penalty) and Ben Goodliffe, and Colchester are currently 20th in League Two. Saturday’s 3-1 defeat at Crawley was their fourth game without a win, although it was their first game for three weeks after postponements caused by Covid, including the scheduled league game at the VBS last Wednesday.

Sutton have also had Covid issues in the last week, but have reported no new positive tests in the squad since the weekend so are likely to field a similar line-up to that which beat Exeter 2-1 on Saturday. Craig Eastmind is again suspended, this time for collecting two cautions in the tournament so far.

Referee is Charles Breakspear, who has taken charge of a number of Sutton matches in the past in the Isthmian League and National League South.

Should the scores be level after 90 minutes tomorrow, as with the Stevenage game there will be no extra time and the winners will be decided on penalties.

Five of the remaining ties in this round are also being played tomorrow, with Arsenal and Chelsea’s Under 21s meeting next Tuesday and Cambridge United waiting for the winners of the previous round’s tie between Exeter and Portsmouth which is scheduled for Friday. The quarter finals will be drawn on a non-regionalised basis.

Tickets are on sale online here, or can be bought from the ticket kiosk tomorrow evening. Prices are £12 for adults, £6 for concessions and £3 for under 16s, with Under 11s admitted free if accompanied by an adult. Stand seats are £2 more in all cases. We would remind supporters that season tickets are not valid for this cup game, so everyone must buy a match ticket.

If you can’t get to the game then it is being live streamed on the iFollow system, and passes, priced £10, can be bought here. You can also order a matchday programme here, price £3 plus postage to be delivered after the game.