COMPETITION for places ahead of Paul Lambert's first game in charge are hotting up after Colchester United Reserves recorded a comfortable 4-0 victory over Northampton Town's second string yesterday afternoon.

Carl Marston

COMPETITION for places ahead of Paul Lambert's first game in charge are hotting up after Colchester United Reserves recorded a comfortable 4-0 victory over Northampton Town's second string yesterday afternoon.

Scott Vernon and Sunday-Akanni Wasiu, who were on the substitutes' bench at Cheltenham last weekend, were both among the goalscorers as the U's netted all four goals in the first-half.

Defender Pat Baldwin and midfielder Kem Izzet, who were also on the bench in the 4-3 defeat at Whaddon Road, also impressed against the Cobblers, while left-back Matt Lockwood continued his comeback from injury by setting up a couple of the goals.

Furthermore, promising young winger Medy Elito has returned from Northern Ireland following a successful trip with the England Under-19s, and so will also be hoping to impress the new boss over the coming weeks. Lambert watched his second string produce a dominant display at the Weston Homes Community Stadium.

Vernon bagged the first of his brace with the opener in the 12th minute, following defender Baldwin's through ball and Wasiu's lay-off. And it was Nigerian front-runner Wasiu who rammed home the second just two minutes later, after he had latched onto Lockwood's header. Lockwood's probing cross enabled Vernon to make to 3-0 in the 33rd minute, and young full-back Ben Griffiths fired home from the edge of the box to complete the scoring shortly afterwards.

Lambert, who officially took over the managerial reins on Monday, therefore has options galore ahead of this Saturday's trip to Stockport County.

And while the first team have failed to win any of their first five matches at the new Community Stadium, the reserves are at least off the mark on home turf - they drew their first home game against Ipswich.

Meanwhile, Elito played his part in helping England Under-19s to advance through the preliminary group stage into the Elite Qualifying phase for the European Championships. England beat Albania and hosts Northern Ireland to finish runners-up to Serbia. Elito started against Serbia and was on the bench for the other two games.

Club captain Chris Coyne is hoping to feature for Australia in their latest World Cup qualifying match against Qatar in Brisbane this evening. Coyne is vying with Craig Moore for a place in the heart of defence alongside Lucas Neill.