1970–71 Colchester United F.C. season

Season overview

During the summer of 1970, manager Dick Graham increased the average age of his Colchester squad by signing a number of ageing players, including ex-England international Ray Crawford, Brian Garvey, John Kurila, Mick Mahon and Brian Owen. During the season, both Owen and Roy Massey suffered serious or career ending injuries, forcing Graham into signing Brian Lewis and Dave Simmons.

The 1970–71 season is most notable for Colchester's famous FA Cup run. In the first round, the U's disposed of non-League Ringmer courtesy of a Ray Crawford hat-trick. They then completed a cup double over Cambridge United, beating them 5–0 in the first round of the League Cup and then 3–0 in the second round of the FA Cup. Colchester defeated further non-League opposition in the third round, winning against Barnet at Underhill Stadium. The U's trailed 3–1 with five minutes remaining of their fourth round tie with Rochdale before staging a late comeback to earn a 3–3 draw and a Layer Road replay, where they thrashed Rochdale 5–0. This earned them a home tie against First Division side Leeds United, a side top of the League and who boasted ten internationals in their side.

Leeds United were at the time one of the best teams in the country. However, Dick Graham's side set out to frustrate Leeds by suppressing their usual wing play and playing direct football instead. Chairs and other obstacles were placed by the sidelines to produce an illusion of a narrow playing surface. Colchester found themselves 3–0 ahead after two goals from Ray Crawford and one from Dave Simmons. However, Leeds began to fight back, pulling back two goals with 17-minutes remaining, before Colchester goalkeeper Graham Smith produced a phenomenal save to deny Mick Jones with the score at 3–2. Colchester held on to record a famous victory and one of the most notable FA Cup giant-killings.

With the U's in the quarter-finals, they were drawn against Everton at Goodison Park. Dick Graham's Grandad's Army finally succumbed to defeated by a 5–0 scoreline in front of a crowd of 53,028.

Colchester's cup run had a negative impact on their league form. With fixtures backing up, a run of 17 league games following their cup exit until the end of the season proved too much as they finished the campaign in sixth position, two points shy of promotion.

Players

Transfers

In

• Total spending: ~ £14,000

Out

• Total incoming: ~ £8,000

Loans out

Match details

Fourth Division

Main article: 1970–71 Football League

Results round by round

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League table

Matches

Report Cheetham Crawford Report Redrobe Crawford Barker Bradd

Massey Mundy Report Gibbs Crawford Hall Jones Howarth Banks Massey Massey Report Cram Crawford Horrey Simmons Crawford Mahon Lewis Crawford Brown Simmons Report O'Riley Report

Gilchrist Hall Masson Bebbington Shaw Lewis Ross Hall Bloss Cram Crawford Mahon

League Cup

Main article: 1970–71 Football League Cup

Owen Jones Summerill

FA Cup

Main article: 1970–71 FA Cup

Gilchrist Garvey Buck Lewis Simmons Simmons Parry Crawford Mahon Simmons Giles Royle Husband Ball

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

|- !colspan="14"|Players who appeared for Colchester who left during the season |}

Goalscorers

Disciplinary record

Clean sheets

Number of games goalkeepers kept a clean sheet.

Player debuts

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

References

General

Books

Websites

Specific

References

1. (2008). "The Who's Who of Colchester United: The Layer Road Years". Breedon Books.
2. "Colchester Utd 3–2 Leeds United". Coludata.co.uk.
3. "Colchester Utd 4–1 Barrow". Coludata.co.uk.
4. "Average Attendance Figures Per Season". Coludaybyday.co.uk.
5. Hudson, Matt. (11 July 2012). "The 1970s and 1980s". Colchester United FC.
6. (2 December 2011). "The harder they fall". ESPN.
7. "Appearances". Coludata.co.uk.
8. "John Kurila". Coludata.co.uk.
9. "Trevor Painter". Coludata.co.uk.
10. "Brian Owen". Coludata.co.uk.
11. "Mick Mahon". Coludata.co.uk.
12. "Brian Garvey". Coludata.co.uk.
13. "Brian Sherratt". Coludata.co.uk.
14. "John Gilchrist". Coludata.co.uk.
15. "Ray Crawford". Coludata.co.uk.
16. "Eric Burgess". Coludata.co.uk.
17. "Dave Simmons". Coludata.co.uk.
18. "Brian Lewis". Coludata.co.uk.
19. "Phil Bloss". Coludata.co.uk.
20. "Lindsay Smith". Coludata.co.uk.
21. "Steve Leslie". Coludata.co.uk.
22. "Bert Howe". Coludata.co.uk.
23. "Brian Wood". Coludata.co.uk.
24. "Ron Willis". Coludata.co.uk.
25. "Terry Dyson". Coludata.co.uk.
26. "Danny Light". Coludata.co.uk.
27. "Dave Bickles". Coludata.co.uk.
28. "Jim Oliver". Coludata.co.uk.
29. "Roger Joslyn". Coludata.co.uk.
30. "Roy Massey". Coludata.co.uk.
31. "Micky Brown". Coludata.co.uk.
32. "Goals". Coludata.co.uk.
33. "Discipline". Coludata.co.uk.
34. "Clean sheets (1st team)". Coludata.co.uk.
35. "Alltime- List of Debuts". Coludaybyday.co.uk.