The Addicks bowed out of the much-maligned competition to a side a full 27 leage places below them.
Charlton manager Russell Slade made seven changes to the side that beat Scunthorpe 3-1 last weekend but his side were dominant during the early exchanges which saw them take the lead from a Nicky Asoje goal in the 32nd minute of the match.
Colchester responded well and were rewarded for their efforts when striker Macauley Bonne’s header beat Charlton’s highly-rated youth prospect Dillon Phillips in goal to make it 1-1 three minutes before half-time.
Slade continued to alter his starting XI by bringing on Fredrik Ulvestad and Lee Novak to replace Andrew Crofts and Asoje.
The second half started slowly with neither side managing to create any real chances to threaten their opposing goalkeepers.
Philips To The Rescue
Addicks keeper Dillon Philips singlehandedly stopped two goal scoring opportunities in a matter of minutes when Frankie Kent’s free header was directed straight into Phillips’ arms on the 59th minute and when Kurtis Guthrie’s low-powered shot was well saved in the 65th minute.
The hosts continued to look the better of the teams, despite the league gap separating the two, but were almost behind with three minutes left to play when 19 year-old Brandon Hanlan’s header was inches away from putting Charlton ahead.
Penalties
The match finished 1-1 and a penalty shootout was to decide which team were heading out of the Checkatrade Trophy.
Colchester started proceedings, and Guthrie’s cheeky chipped penalty beat Phillips to make it 1-0, before Hanlan stepped up to make it 1-1.
Bonne then scored his penalty, before Ulvestad fired past Colchester goalkeeper Dillon Barnes to make it four perfect penalties from the two sides.
Phillips then produced the first save of the shootout when he dived left to deny Colchester’s Louis Dunne to give the away side the advantage.
Charlton failed to capitalise when Karlan Ahearne-Grant’s penalty was saved by Barnes.
Drey Wright then scored to give Colchester the lead, with the penalties at 3-2.
Jorge Teixeira levelled the score for Charlton at 3-3 but Craig Slater then converted to make it 4-3 Colchester.
The pressure was then on Charlton’s 18-year-old Ezri Konsa to keep his team in the contest but Barnes was once again the hero for Colchester, saving the penalty.
Looking Forward
Charlton will now turn their focus on the visit to Swindon Town at the weekend as they hope to make it three league wins in a row for the first time since March 2015.
Swindon find themselves in the relegation zone of League One heading into the fixture against Charlton, having won just four of their 16 league games so far.
The South-East London side have been impressive in League One of late and Slade will be looking to add consistency to their recent results in order to move up from 14th place, a win could see them climb as high as eighth depending on other results.