1956–57 Colchester United F.C. season

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Colchester United
1956–57 season
Chairman Bill Allen[1]
Manager Benny Fenton
Stadium Layer Road
Third Division South 3rd
FA Cup 1st round
(eliminated by
Southend United)
Top goalscorer League:
Ken Plant (24)
All:
Ken Plant (24)
Highest home attendance 18,559
v Ipswich Town, 16 February 1957[2]
Lowest home attendance 5,899
v Northampton Town, 22 December 1956[3]
Average home league attendance 9,351[4]
Biggest win 6–0
v Shrewsbury Town, 29 September 1956
Biggest defeat 1–4
v Southend United, 17 November 1956;
1–4
v Swindon Town, 27 April 1957
Home colours
← 1955–56 1957–58 →

The 1956–57 season was Colchester United's 15th season in their history and their seventh season in the Third Division South, the third tier of English football. Alongside competing in the Third Division South, the club also participated in the FA Cup in which the club were eliminated by Southend United in the first round in the first Essex derby in a cup competition. The season would be Colchester United's highest league finish for 50 years by ending their campaign in third position. It has only been bettered on three occasions; the 2005–06 season, 2006–07 season and the 2007–08 season.

Season overview

The 1956–57 season proved to be Colchester United's best finish in their history, ending the season in third position in the third tier with a result that was not bettered until 2006. For the majority of the season, Colchester were favourites for promotion, during which time they went 20 league games unbeaten between December 1956 and Easter 1957.

Colchester and rivals Ipswich Town vied for the top spot for much of the season. Colchester were seven-points ahead of their third-placed rivals when the two sides met at Layer Road on 16 February 1957. A record crowd of 18,559 witnessed the 0–0 draw, with over 4,000 fans turned away and over 100 spectators witnessing the action from the roof of the Popular Side stand. Player-manager Benny Fenton missed a 21st-minute penalty during the match, which was saved by Ipswich goalkeeper Roy Bailey.

A 2–1 win over second-placed Torquay United, who trailed by four points as a result, improved Colchester's title credentials. However, the loss of influential players to injury including Bob Dale and Chic Milligan damaged Colchester's hopes. Three consecutive draws in late March and early April allowed Torquay to close the gap to just one point, with Ipswich five points adrift. Over Easter 1957, Colchester lost three consecutive away games at Millwall, Walsall and Swindon Town, but won their final game of the season 2–0 against Watford to put them back at the top of the table, but both Ipswich and Torquay's final matches were 24 hours later. Both sides won their final games, with Colchester slipping to third position in the table and Ipswich were promoted as champions, level on points with Torquay but with a better goal average, while they finished one point ahead of Colchester. Colchester played the entire season unbeaten at Layer Road.[5]

Players

As of match played 29 April 1957.[6]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
England GK Percy Ames
England GK John Wright
England DF Brian Dobson
England DF Benny Fenton
England DF George Fisher
Scotland DF John Fowler
England DF Trevor Harris
England DF Bertie Hill
England DF Ron Hunt
Scotland DF Chic Milligan
England DF Derek Parker
No. Position Player
England DF Reg Stewart
England FW Les Barrell
England FW Russell Blake
Scotland FW Bobby Hill
England FW Martyn King
England FW Kevin McCurley
Scotland FW Sammy McLeod
England FW Ken Plant
England FW Eddie Smith
England FW Tommy Williams
England FW Peter Wright

Match details

Third Division South

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Main article: 1956–57 Football League

Third Division South results round by round

Round 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46
Ground H A A H H A A H H A A H H A H A H A H H A A H H A A H H A A H A H A H A H A H A H H A A A H
Result W W L D D L D W W W L W W L W L W D D W L L W D W D W W W W W W D D W D D W D D D W L L L W
Position 4 4 10 7 11 14 15 12 9 4 8 2 1 3 3 3 4 3 3 3 4 5 4 4 3 3 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 3

Last updated: 17 March 2016.
Source: [1]
Ground: A = Away; H = Home. Result: D = Draw; L = Loss; W = Win; P = Postponed.

      Win       Draw       Loss

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GAv1 Pts2 Promotion, qualification or relegation
1 Ipswich Town (C, P) 46 25 9 12 101 54 1.870 59 Promoted to Second Division
2 Torquay United 46 24 11 11 89 64 1.391 59
3 Colchester United 46 22 14 10 84 56 1.500 58
4 Southampton 46 22 10 14 76 52 1.462 54
5 Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic 46 19 14 13 88 62 1.419 52

Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal average; 3) Number of goals scored

(C) Champion; (P) Promoted; (Q) Qualified to the phase indicated; (R) Relegated.

Notes:

1 The system of using goal average to separate two teams tied on points was used up until the 1976–77 season.

2 The points system: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for losing.

Matches

FA Cup

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Main article: 1956–57 FA Cup

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

[6][7]

No. Pos Nat Player Total Third Division
South		 FA Cup
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
GK England Percy Ames 47 0 46 0 1 0
DF England Benny Fenton 39 8 38 8 1 0
DF England George Fisher 46 2 45 2 1 0
DF Scotland John Fowler 44 1 43 1 1 0
DF England Bertie Hill 15 1 15 1 0 0
DF Scotland Chic Milligan 35 1 34 1 1 0
DF England Derek Parker 6 0 6 0 0 0
DF England Reg Stewart 13 0 13 0 0 0
FW England Les Barrell 4 1 4 1 0 0
FW England Russell Blake 2 0 2 0 0 0
FW Scotland Bobby Hill 39 7 38 7 1 0
FW England Martyn King 3 1 3 1 0 0
FW England Kevin McCurley 32 10 31 9 1 1
FW Scotland Sammy McLeod 4 2 4 2 0 0
FW England Ken Plant 47 24 46 24 1 0
FW England Eddie Smith 36 13 35 13 1 0
FW England Tommy Williams 23 3 23 3 0 0
FW England Peter Wright 45 8 44 8 1 0
Players who appeared for Colchester who left during the season
DF England Bob Dale 34 2 33 2 1 0
DF England John Harrison 3 0 3 0 0 0

Goalscorers

[7]

Place Nation Position Name Third Division South FA Cup Total
1 England FW Ken Plant 24 0 24
2 England FW Eddie Smith 13 0 13
3 England FW Kevin McCurley 9 1 10
4 England DF Benny Fenton 8 0 8
England FW Peter Wright 8 0 8
6 Scotland FW Bobby Hill 7 0 7
7 England FW Tommy Williams 3 0 3
8 England DF Bob Dale 2 0 2
England DF George Fisher 2 0 2
Scotland FW Sammy McLeod 2 0 2
11 Scotland DF John Fowler 1 0 1
England DF Bertie Hill 1 0 1
Scotland DF Chic Milligan 1 0 1
England FW Les Barrell 1 0 1
England FW Martyn King 1 0 1
Own goals 1 0 1
TOTALS 83 1 84

Disciplinary record

[8]

Nationality Position Player Third Division South FA Cup Total
Booked Red card Booked Red card Booked Red card
TOTALS 0 0 0 0 0 0

Captains

Number of games played as team captain.[9]

Place Nation Position Player Third Division South FA Cup Total
Not recorded
 46 1 47

Player debuts

Players making their first-team Colchester United debut in a fully competitive match.[10]

Position Player Date Opponent Ground Notes
DF Scotland Chic Milligan 18 August 1956 Southend United Layer Road
FW England Les Barrell 18 August 1956 Southend United Layer Road
FW England Eddie Smith 18 August 1956 Southend United Layer Road
FW England Martyn King 27 August 1956 Crystal Palace Layer Road
FW England Tommy Williams 24 November 1956 Brentford Layer Road
DF England Derek Parker 13 April 1957 Aldershot Layer Road

Transfers and contracts

In

Date Pos Player From Fee Ref
1 June 1956 FW England Eddie Smith England Northampton Town Undisclosed [11]
1 July 1956 FW England Les Barrell England Lexden Wanderers Free transfer [12]
18 August 1956 DF Scotland Chic Milligan Scotland Ardrossan Winton Rovers £1,000 [13]
1 September 1956 FW England Tommy Williams England Carshalton Athletic Free transfer [14]
1 March 1957 DF England Derek Parker England West Ham United £2,500 [15]

Out

Date Pos Player To Fee Ref
31 May 1956 DF England Billy Hunt England Sudbury Town Free transfer [16]
31 May 1956 FW England Alfred Noble England Briggs Sports Free transfer [17]
5 September 1956 DF England John Harrison Retired Retired [18]
16 February 1957 DF England Bob Dale Retired Retired [19]
23 March 1957 DF England George French Retired Retired [20]

See also

References

General

Books

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Websites

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Specific

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