colchester were held to a 2–2 draw at dover athletic on 25 july, josh thompson and sammie szmodics the scorers, before a 4–3 victory over dagenham redbridge on 26 july. macauley bonne scored his first goal of pre-season, but the u's found themselves 3–1 down at the hour mark. five minutes later, they began their fight back, as vose scored once and then scored the equaliser on 76-minutes. jabo ibehre scored the u's winner two minutes later.