1958–59 Colchester United F.C. season

Colchester United

1958–59 season
Chairman	Bill Allen[1]
Manager	Benny Fenton
Stadium	Layer Road
Third Division	5th
FA Cup	4th round (eliminated by Arsenal)
Top goalscorer	League: Neil Langman (20) All: Neil Langman (27)
Highest home attendance	16,000 v Arsenal, 24 January 1959[2]
Lowest home attendance	4,406 v Notts County, 23 February 1959[3]
Average home league attendance	8,357[4]
Biggest win	8–2 v Stockport County, 4 October 1958; 7–1 v Yeovil Town, 11 December 1958
Biggest defeat	0–4 v Arsenal, 28 January 1959; 0–4 v Brentford, 21 March 1959
Home colours
← 1957–58 1959–60 →

The 1958–59 season was Colchester United's 17th season in their history and their ninth season in the third tier of English football, the newly formed national Third Division. Alongside competing in the Third Division, the club also participated in the FA Cup. Colchester reached the fourth round of the FA Cup, beating Bath City, Yeovil Town and Chesterfield on their way to meeting Arsenal. Drawn at home, Colchester held Arsenal to a 2–2 Layer Road draw, but were defeated 4–0 at Highbury in the replay. Colchester finished fifth in the Third Division, nine points shy of promotion.

Season overview

In the new national Third Division, Colchester excelled against their northern counterparts, winning 21 games, more than half of which were clubs previously in the Third Division North. Colchester finished the season in fifth position, just nine points away from Hull City in second place, and ten behind champions Plymouth Argyle. They also earned a club record win when they beat Stockport County 8–2 on 4 October, and a club record away win when they beat Yeovil Town 7–1.

The club's main highlight during the campaign was their FA Cup run, their first venture outside of the first round in six seasons. Colchester defeated old Southern League rivals Bath City and Yeovil Town in the first and second rounds, before seeing off Chesterfield to set up a fourth round tie with Arsenal. For the first time local police set a limit on crowd numbers at Layer Road for the Arsenal game with 16,000 witnessing the 2–2 draw. 62,686 people watched the replay at Highbury in thick fog as the Gunners ran out 4–0 winners.

Both big-money signings from last season, Neil Langman and John Evans, helped repay their transfer fees by scoring 27 and 16 goals respectively. Meanwhile, the proceeds from the Arsenal fixture meant that floodlighting could be installed at Layer Road for the first time.^[5]

Players

As of match played 4 May 1959.^[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 George Fisher DF John Fowler DF Cyril Hammond DF Trevor Harris DF Ron Hunt DF John Laidlaw DF Alf Marshall DF Chic Milligan DF Derek Parker DF John Roe

No. Position Player DF Edgar Rumney FW Russell Blake FW John Evans FW Bobby Hill FW Ian Johnstone FW Martyn King FW Neil Langman FW Kevin McCurley FW Sammy McLeod FW Tony Miller FW Ken Plant FW Tommy Williams FW Peter Wright

Match details

Third Division

Third Division 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	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	H	A	H	A	A
Result	L	W	L	W	W	W	D	W	D	D	L	W	D	D	L	W	L	L	W	W	D	D	W	D	W	W	L	D	D	W	W	L	W	L	W	L	L	L	L	L	W	W	W	W	L	W
Position	17	9	19	13	8	3	7	6	5	7	8	7	5	7	7	3	6	9	8	6	5	8	5	6	3	3	4	4	4	4	3	3	3	4	4	4	6	6	9	10	10	9	7	6	8	5

Last updated: 23 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
3	Brentford	46	21	15	10	76	49	1.551	57
4	Norwich City	46	22	13	11	89	62	1.435	57
5	Colchester United	46	21	10	15	71	67	1.060	52
6	Reading	46	21	8	17	78	63	1.238	50
7	Tranmere Rovers	46	21	8	17	82	67	1.224	50

^{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		FA Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
	GK		Percy Ames	52	0	46	0	6	0
	DF		George Fisher	34	1	28	1	6	0
	DF		John Fowler	48	0	42	0	6	0
	DF		Cyril Hammond	37	0	33	0	4	0
	DF		Trevor Harris	1	0	1	0	0	0
	DF		Ron Hunt	21	0	19	0	2	0
	DF		Alf Marshall	24	0	24	0	0	0
	DF		Chic Milligan	50	1	44	1	6	0
	DF		Derek Parker	44	0	38	0	6	0
	FW		Russell Blake	29	5	24	5	5	0
	FW		John Evans	31	16	27	14	4	2
	FW		Bobby Hill	8	1	8	1	0	0
	FW		Ian Johnstone	1	0	1	0	0	0
	FW		Martyn King	3	0	3	0	0	0
	FW		Neil Langman	50	27	44	20	6	7
	FW		Kevin McCurley	7	5	7	5	0	0
	FW		Sammy McLeod	44	10	38	8	6	2
	FW		Ken Plant	9	5	7	3	2	2
	FW		Tommy Williams	30	6	29	5	1	1
	FW		Peter Wright	49	5	43	5	6	0

Goalscorers

^[7]

Place	Nation	Position	Name	Third Division	FA Cup	Total
1		FW	Neil Langman	20	7	27
2		FW	John Evans	14	2	16
3		FW	Sammy McLeod	8	2	10
4		FW	Tommy Williams	5	1	6
5		FW	Russell Blake	5	0	5
		FW	Kevin McCurley	5	0	5
		FW	Ken Plant	3	2	5
		FW	Peter Wright	5	0	5
9		DF	George Fisher	1	0	1
		FW	Bobby Hill	1	0	1
		DF	Chic Milligan	1	0	1
			Own goals	3	0	3
			TOTALS	71	14	85

Disciplinary record

^[8]

Nationality	Position	Player	Third Division		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	FA Cup	Total
			Not recorded	46	6	52

Player debuts

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

Position	Player	Date	Opponent	Ground	Notes
DF	Cyril Hammond	23 August 1958	Bury	Layer Road
DF	Alf Marshall	8 October 1958	Reading	Elm Park
FW	Ian Johnstone	18 April 1959	Chesterfield	Layer Road

Transfers and contracts

In

Date	Pos	Player	From	Fee	Ref
1 May 1958	FW	Tony Miller	Apprentice	Free transfer	[11]
1 July 1958	DF	Cyril Hammond	Charlton Athletic	Free transfer	[12]
1 July 1958	DF	John Roe	West Calder United	Free transfer	[13]
18 April 1959	FW	Ian Johnstone	Ormiston Primrose	Free transfer	[14]

Out

Date	Pos	Player	To	Fee	Ref
1 May 1958	DF	Benny Fenton	Colchester United	Retired from playing, remained as manager	[15]
1 July 1958	DF	Bertie Hill	Dartford	Free transfer	[16]
26 December 1958	FW	Hamish McNeill	Cambridge City	Nominal	[17]

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: 1959". 11v11.com. Retrieved 27 March 2016. 
• "1958–59". Arsenal First Team Line-Ups. Retrieved 27 March 2016. 
• "Season View". TigerBase. Retrieved 27 March 2016. 
• "First team 1958–59 – Football League Three". Go Go Go County. Retrieved 27 March 2016. 
• "Colchester United Club Profile". Ciderspace. Retrieved 27 March 2016. 

Specific