Campbell continued to be in the spotlight as he then bagged a quality brace to put the Tigers in the driving seat. He fired home the opener at the second attempt in the 20th minute after his first shot had been blocked and the Manchester United loanee then doubled the lead just after the half-hour mark. Livewire Campbell sprinted on to a through ball by Henrik Pedersen and he completely wrongfooted keeper Dean Gerken with a calm finish.
But ten-man Colchester refused to go down without a fight in what was their last ever midweek fixture at Layer Road, as they move to a new stadium next season.
Kevin Lisbie gave them hope of a revival by halving the deficit in the 37th minute. The ex-Charlton striker benefited from some determined play by team-mate Johnnie Jackson, before squeezing in his shot from just inside the box. It was his 14th goal of the season.
Colchester had a couple of chances to equalise in first-half stoppage time, when both Matt Heath and Clive Platt were denied from close in following inswinging corners.
The U's understandably began to tire in the second half and they were indebted to several fine saves from their keeper Gerken.
However, the Tigers wrapped up the points when substitute Caleb Folan rounded Gerken to add a third goal with just two minutes remaining.