September, he took his Colchester side to face Walsall. He handed Dominic Smith his professional debut when he was sent on as a second-half substitute for Gavin Massey, but the U's were unable to break the deadlock in a 0–0 draw, their first clean sheet of the season. Colchester claimed their first victory of the campaign on 13 September at Leyton Orient. They were down to ten men just before the break when Magnus Okuonghae received his second red card of the season. Despite this, Colchester took the lead through Sanchez Watt on 62-minutes. On 73-minutes, Freddie Sears doubled the U's lead to hand Humes his first win as manager. On 16 September, Colchester hosted Sheffield United. George Moncur scored his third goal of the season on 31-minutes, and in the second-half Freddie Sears doubled the hosts lead with 13-minutes remaining. However, the Blades commenced on a comeback when Ben Davies scored on 83-minutes, before Ryan Flynn levelled the score two minutes later. In the 88th-minute, Sheffield completed a six-minute salvo when Davies converted a penalty after Alex Gilbey had fouled Stefan Scougall in the area. On 19 September, Dan Holman joined Conference National side Wrexham on loan for one-month, while Cardiff City forward Rhys Healey arrived on a loan deal that would run until 20 December. Meanwhile, development squad striker Nnamdi Nwachuku made a loan move to Leiston. Colchester were held to a 0–0 home draw by Bradford City on 20 September. Kane Vincent-Young signed a one-year deal following a trial with the under-21 side on 23 September. Colchester moved out of the relegation zone on 27 September following a 3–0 win at bottom club Crewe Alexandra. Freddie Sears scored his fifth goal of the season on 57-minutes. New recruit Rhys Healey was brought on as a substitute for Craig Eastmond and duly scored shortly after his arrival on the pitch. Sanchez Watt completed the scoring for the visitors on 67-minutes. October Rhys Healey scored on his first start for the club after 16-minutes of Colchester's game at Preston North End on 3 October. However, Preston equalised four minutes later before taking the lead four minutes after that. Alex Gilbey scored his first goal of the season to level the scored on 37-minutes. Preston retook the lead shortly after half-time before Chris Humphrey sealed a 4–2 victory on 57-minutes. On 6 October, Colchester made another loan signing with Ipswich