Colchester finished the year on a high with a 24-3 victory against fellow promotion contenders Ipswich, in London League division four north east.

The Suffolk side were the only team to have beaten Colchester this season and the win put them three points clear at the top of the division with a game in hand.

Several hundred spectators, including new RFU President Brian Williams, enjoyed this keen contest at Mill Road.

Eager to overtake Colchester and go top, Ipswich crossed the Colchester line three times only for ideally-positioned referee Ken Ford to rule the ball not grounded each time due to dogged Colchester defending.

Colchester’s forwards matched Ipswich’s larger pack but the more creative home backs edged their opponents, running in four unanswered tries to win the game.

From the start, Colchester rocked Ipswich and right wing Toby Shadarevian crossed for a third-minute try.

Ipswich replied with a penalty for offside, but by mixing forward drives with probing runs, Colchester corralled Ipswich into their 22.

Quickly recycled ball led to a break by centre and captain Ben Addison, who broke a couple of tackles to score a try in his last game for Colchester before returning to Scotland.

Colchester dominated the half, with centre Will Morgan touching down wide right but the try was disallowed for foot in touch.

At the start of the second half, a series of pick-and-go charges by the Ipswich pack gave their backs a spell of possession, but a handling error enabled replacement Colchester right wing Chris Withers to grab a fumbled ball and sprint under the posts for a try which Dave Higgins converted.

Poor discipline at the restart kick saw Ipswich forward James Blyth sin binned, but the 14-man visitors then enjoyed their best spell of the game, spending 15 minutes besieging Colchester’s line.

Colchester held up the forward drives and they relieved the onslaught before, delivering the game’s best try.

From a scrum inside the Ipswich half, scrum-half James Gee delivered a long pass to fly-half Higgins, whose floated pass missed out Morgan to be taken at speed by Addison.

Cutting through the Ipswich line, Addison linked with full-back Adam Cook, who drew the Ipswich wing before releasing Jon Vine to sprint for a try under the posts. Higgins converted for the 24-3 winning margin.

l Colchester have been drawn at home against Bognor of London South West League division three in the last 32 of the EDF Senior Vase.

The game is due to be played on January 17.