Colchester United finally won at home this afternoon with a five goal thumping off Carlisle. David Perkins opened the scoring with Mark Yeates grabbing a brace before the break. Dean Hammond and Sunday Wasium completed the rout.

Colchester United finally broke their West Homes Community Stadium hoodoo this afternoon with a thumping 5-0 win over a poor Carlisle United side. David Perkins and a Mark Yeates' brace gave United a halftime lead with late goals from Dean Hammond and Sunday Wasiu completing the scoring. The only down side to the afternoon was the early substitution of striker Steve Gillespie with another recurrence of his hamstring injury.

U's manager Paul Lambert made two changes to the side that had been unfortunate to suffer defeat against Millwall on Tuesday evening. Gillespie came in up front in place of Wasiu while Paul Reid' foot injury gave Australian International Chris Coyne a chance to reclaim his place at the back.

Under pressure Carlisle manager John Ward had recruited experienced midfielder Graham Kavanagh from Sunderland and Spurs keeper Ben Alnwick on loan in recent weeks and both started against the U's. Danny Graham and Scott Dobie led the line.

Paul Lambert's ethos is to get in to his opponents faces as quickly as possible and after just three minutes, they got their reward with the opening goal. It came courtesy of the quick feet of Mark Yeates. Twice he got to the by-line to deliver low crosses in to the box and though the first one was cleared back to the Irishman, his second caused problems in the six yard box and fell nicely for Perkins to volley home from close range for his 4th goal of the season.

The home side doubled their lead eleven minutes later. Great interplay between Platt and Gillespie resulted in the ball landing at the feet of Yeates just outside the box. The enigmatic U's winger let fly with a shot that went in at the near post with Alnwick wrong-footed. It may well have been that the shot took an early deflection which left the Spurs man helpless to prevent it from going in.

Two up with fifteen minutes and the U's fans were in jubilant mood though that ended with the news that Gillespie would have to be substituted after suffering a recurrence of the hamstring problem which has plagued his U's career. In the short time that he was on the field he linked well with Clive Platt and showed glimpses of what could be, but he sadly limped off to be replaced by Sunday Wasiu.

To that point, Carlisle had shown nothing in attack though Baldwin was alert enough to deflect a Graham shot from outside the box behind for a corner. Wasiu had to sort out his dancing feet to put in an effort which Alnwick was equal to while the Carlisle keeper had to be a full stretch to hand on to a Yeates' shot across goal.

On 31 minutes United took complete and utter control of the game with the third goal courtesy of an awful mix-up in the Cumbrian's defence. Again, the goal came as a result of closing players down in the last third of the pitch but surely Yeates' couldn't have expected the gift which saw him one on one with Alnwick. He converted the chance by pushing the ball through the keeper’s legs to give United their best start to a match all season and at halftime, the team were rightly applauded off the field.

Not surprisingly, John Ward made a change at halftime with Jeff Smith replacing Joyce in midfield but in truth, those fans that had made the long trip down from the North had very little to cheer about.

After some early pressure from the U's, Coyne volleyed a Yeates' corner well over the bar before another change from Carlisle saw Madine replaced Hackney just before the hour mark. United were not at their attacking best and with so little pressure from the visitors were happy to kill the game off which led to a rather disappointing second half for the most part.
Coyne, back from International action with Australia, picked out Yeates on the left wing with a lovely free kick and when Wasiu was given the ball with his back to goal inside the box, anything look possible. The former St Albans man turned but found his shot blocked but only as far as Platt who tried to do the same but lifted the ball over the bar from ten yards out.

Carlisle's best moment of the match came from a free-kick as well. After Kavanagh had won a free-kick twenty five yards out the former Cardiff City midfielder struck a beautiful curling effort over the top of the wall. It looked destined for the top corner until Dean Gerken in full flight tipped the ball behind. A tremendous save which earned him a standing ovation from the crowd especially as he had had so little to do all game.

United almost added to their lead when Platt's header was cleared off the line after Coyne had out jumped the Carlisle keeper. It would have been a fitting reward for a player who had fully deserved a goal. Wasiu raced on to a loose ball but under pressure from Kavanagh sliced wide from the edge of the box.
Lambert, mindful of two tough away trips in the next week made his final changes of the game with Scott Vernon replacing the hardworking Clive Platt and Anthony Wordsworth coming on for two goal hero Mark Yeates.

With time running out, United added two more goals. The first came from a powerful midfield run by Hammond who passed to Vernon and continued in to the box where he received the return ball to side foot past Alnwick for his first U's goal.

And just a few seconds later, Wasiu made it five. This time it was fellow central midfielder Kem Izzet who created the goal by winning the ball in midfield and finding Wasiu in the inside-left channel. The Nigerian took on his man and left him on his backside before calmly rolling the ball past the helpless Carlisle keeper.

So United are finally up and running at the WCHS. What a pity it’s going to be so long till the next home game but with local derbies against Northampton and Southend coming up, U's fans will be hoping that Paul Lambert has found the winning formula.

Shot of the Match: Kavanagh's right-footed curler was just brilliantly placed and would surely have gone in but for Gerken's save.
Save of the Match: A wonderful save from Gerken denied Kavanagh as he stretched every sinew to tip the former Middlesbrough man's free kick behind.
Moan of the Match: Can't think of one at the moment...we even got out of the car park in decent time!
Man of the Match: There are some very good candidates for this. Lambert himself says that U's skipper Dean Hammond was a colossus midfield while Chris Coyne was superb at the back. Yeates had a hand in the first three goals and in that kind of form is unplayable. However, my MOTM goes to the U's hard-working centre-forward CLIVE PLATT. The big man constantly won the ball in the air and never stopped running. Sadly, he didn't get the goal he deserved when his header was cleared off the line.

Colchester: Gerken, White, Baldwin, Coyne, Jackson, Yeates (Wordsworth 83), Izzet, Hammond, Perkins, Gillespie (Wasiu 16), Platt (Vernon 80).
Subs Not Used: Cousins, Heath.

Goals: Perkins 3, Yeates 14, 31, Hammond 89, Wasiu 90.

Carlisle: Alnwick, Raven, Livesey, Gowling, Campion, Taylor, Kavanagh, Joyce (Jeff Smith 46), Hackney (Madine 58), Graham, Dobie.
Subs Not Used: Williams, Carlton, Horwood.

Booked: Gowling.

Att: 5,152

Ref: Kevin Friend (Leicestershire).

Photo: Action Images

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