1956–57 Colchester United F.C. season

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 GK Percy Ames GK John Wright DF Brian Dobson DF Benny Fenton DF George Fisher DF John Fowler DF Trevor Harris DF Bertie Hill DF Ron Hunt DF Chic Milligan DF Derek Parker

No. Position Player DF Reg Stewart FW Les Barrell FW Russell Blake FW Bobby Hill FW Martyn King FW Kevin McCurley FW Sammy McLeod FW Ken Plant FW Eddie Smith FW Tommy Williams FW Peter Wright

Match details

Third Division South

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:
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

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

^[6][7]

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

Goalscorers

^[7]

Place	Nation	Position	Name	Third Division South	FA Cup	Total
1		FW	Ken Plant	24	0	24
2		FW	Eddie Smith	13	0	13
3		FW	Kevin McCurley	9	1	10
4		DF	Benny Fenton	8	0	8
		FW	Peter Wright	8	0	8
6		FW	Bobby Hill	7	0	7
7		FW	Tommy Williams	3	0	3
8		DF	Bob Dale	2	0	2
		DF	George Fisher	2	0	2
		FW	Sammy McLeod	2	0	2
11		DF	John Fowler	1	0	1
		DF	Bertie Hill	1	0	1
		DF	Chic Milligan	1	0	1
		FW	Les Barrell	1	0	1
		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
		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	Chic Milligan	18 August 1956	Southend United	Layer Road
FW	Les Barrell	18 August 1956	Southend United	Layer Road
FW	Eddie Smith	18 August 1956	Southend United	Layer Road
FW	Martyn King	27 August 1956	Crystal Palace	Layer Road
FW	Tommy Williams	24 November 1956	Brentford	Layer Road
DF	Derek Parker	13 April 1957	Aldershot	Layer Road

Transfers and contracts

In

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

Out

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

See also

• List of Colchester United F.C. seasons

References

General

Books

• Whitehead, Jeff; Drury, Kevin (2008). The Who's Who of Colchester United: The Layer Road Years. Derby: Breedon Books. ISBN 978-1-85983-629-3. 
• Ambrosen, Tony (1993). Amber in the Blood: A History Of Newport County. Uxbridge: Yore Publications. ISBN 978-1-874427-40-7. 

Websites

• "Colchester United football club match record: 1957". 11v11.com. Retrieved 27 March 2016. 
• "Statistics 1956/57". The Millwall History Files. Retrieved 27 March 2016. 
• "1950/51 to 1959/60" (PDF). Watford Football Club archive 1881–2015. Retrieved 27 March 2016. 

Specific