It's been a good while since a Walsall side last emphatically cut an opposition to shreds and few of us would have expected to see the attacking performance we ended up witnessing tonight.
Of course, Walsall wouldn't be Walsall without a slip and a stutter along the way, and as Anthony Wordsworth's 10th minute effort sailed into the top corner, a certain edginess entered the terraces at the Banks's.
That was before a certain Emmanuel Ledesma decided to spark the game into life.
Having already stung the hands of Williams in the Colchester goal just a couple of minutes in, Ledesma stepped up to take a free kick from 25 yards out and stroked it into the top corner with aplomb with 10 minutes of the first half remaining.
Colchester had looked not too dissimilar to the Stevenage side who paid us a visit at the weekend, with power up front and a certain direct approach keeping our back four on their toes - both Manny Smith and Lee Beevers on hand to make crucial interceptions inside the box. Meanwhile. George Bowerman replaced Jon Macken who appeared to pick up a hamstring injury.
Yet the second goal came from the most unlikely of sources. After a reshuffle saw Hurst play inside the wide left channel, Matt Sadler found himself able to join the attack from left back on a couple of occasions, most notably as he crept inside the box and tucked a rebound home after Williams saved Nicholls' effort.
Given the slow start, a 2-1 halftime lead showed how much we'd managed to turn the game in our favour after Ledesma provided the initial spark of magic.
The second half began and the exuberant Ledesma slowly worked his way to the very heartbeat of everything we did in Colchester's half. He was just too slippery for the opposition defenders to deal with and looked time and time again to thread balls through into dangerous positions.
For those who weren't at the game, one moment of magic near the corner flag in the second half saw Ledesma do an impossible trick with the ball to leave his marker for dead. One for Soccer AM on Saturday, I should think...
By this time Cuvelier too had come into the game and between he and Ledesma, the ball pinged around the Colchester midfield with ease. There are no superlatives to do their combined performance in that second half justice, but seriously, magic comes close.
Ledesma wasn't finished though, and found time to weave his way into the box before flicking a ball into the middle, where Bowerman nodded home. Ledesma was clearly a player absolutely loving his football.
It would be wrong to suggest that Ledesma single handedly won us that game, as impressive performances all the way through the side saw us cruise towards three points. That said, that's as good an individual performance as we'll see this season and we looked a side transformed in the opposition half. Dean Smith replaced the little Argentinian with Paterson for the last five minutes, giving the ground chance to show their appreciation for such a fine performance and boy did he deserve it.
RES: Walsall 3 (Ledesma 38', Sadler 44', Bowerman 73') Colchester United 1 (Wordsworth 11')
ATT: 3,331
MOTM: E, Ledesma
We're far from being out of the mire just yet, but that last 15 minutes was a young side full to the brim with confidence. If we can take that with us against Rochdale and Chesterfield, it'll take a special effort to stop us.
But this is Walsall after all - who knows which side will turn up on Saturday!
By: Rob Jones