A brace each from Nicky Ajose and Michael Doughty saw Town run out 4-1 winners at Colchester United.
The pair netted twice either side of half time while Joe Edwards scored a consolation for the home side in the second half.
Luke Williams made two changes to the starting XI with Yaser Kasim and Fabien Robert both missing out. Ellis Iandolo was handed a start alongside the returning Rapha Rossi-Branco as Town lined up in a 3-5-2 formation.
Town had the better of the first half, patiently controlling proceedings for a large part of the opening forty-five. It was the two wing-backs – Brad Barry and James Brophy – who saw early shots saved or fly off target.
Lawrence Vigouroux was kept busy with routine saves but produced a fine stop midway through the half to tip a goal-bound header around the upright at full-stretch.
On 36 minutes, the Town’s pressure told and they broke the deadlock. Nathan Thompson found himself in an advanced position from which he clipped a perfect lofted pass through to Nicky Ajose who had sprung the U’s offside trap. He took a touch to bring the bring the ball under control before calmly tucking it into the net.
The visitors might have added a second before the break after more good work from the skipper to win the ball back in midfield. Michael Doughty’s pass picked out Jon Obika who had peeled away on the edge of the box but he couldn’t find the net one-on-one.
Shortly after the interval, Jordan Turnbull tested Parish from the edge of the area before the visitors doubled their advantage. Some neat combination play between Ellis Iandolo and Turnbull down the left flank allowed the latter to square the ball for the arriving Ajose to side-foot in his and the Town’s second of the afternoon.
Just two minutes later, the visitors were three goals to the good. A break down the visitors’ right was fed into the feet of Michael Doughty on the edge of the box. With his back to goal, the midfielder turned before picking out the top corner with a sweetly-struck left-footed strike.
Joe Edwards then reduced the arrears with a superb volley from the edge of the area that flew into the top corner. James Brophy waltzed his way through a number of challenges but was denied by Parish as the visitors looked to restore their three-goal advantage.
With just over fifteen minutes to play, Town did add a fourth goal. In similar fashion to his first strike, Doughty added his second finding the bottom right-hand corner on this occasion.
Lawrence Vigouroux twice turned shots around the upright, the second effort coming after being wrong-footed by a deflection but the stopper still managed to hurl himself across to stop a goal.
Jon Obika drilled an effort inches over while Jermaine Hylton and Brad Barry both fired off target in the closing stages as Town looked to add a fifth to their tally.
