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1977–78 Colchester United F.C. season

Field	Value
club	Colchester United
season	1977–78
chairman	Jack Rippingale
manager	Bobby Roberts
stadium	Layer Road
league	Third Division
league result	8th
cup1	FA Cup
cup1 result	2nd round
(eliminated by
Watford)
cup2	League Cup
cup2 result	3rd round
(eliminated by
Leeds United)
league topscorer
Bobby Gough (13)
season topscorer
Bobby Gough (17)
highest attendance	6,447
v Gillingham, 13 January 1978
lowest attendance	2,554
v Rotherham United, 3 May 1978
average attendance	4,566
largest win	4–0
v Blackburn Rovers, 7 September 1977
v Portsmouth, 7 March 1978
largest loss	0–4
v Leeds United, 26 October 1977
v Preston North End, 28 February 1978
pattern_name1	Home
pattern_la1	_white_stripes
pattern_b1	_3whitestripes
pattern_ra1	_white_stripes
leftarm1	0000FF
body1	0000FF
rightarm1	0000FF
shorts1	0000FF
alt1	Football kit (white jersey with blue, vertical stripes; blue shorts; and white socks).
prevseason	1976–77
nextseason	1978–79

(eliminated by Watford) (eliminated by Leeds United) Bobby Gough (13) Bobby Gough (17) v Gillingham, 13 January 1978 v Rotherham United, 3 May 1978 v Blackburn Rovers, 7 September 1977 v Portsmouth, 7 March 1978 v Leeds United, 26 October 1977 v Preston North End, 28 February 1978 The 1977–78 season was Colchester United's 36th season in their history and first season back in third tier of English football, the Third Division following promotion the previous season. Alongside competing in the Third Division, the club also participated in the FA Cup and the League Cup.

Colchester made steady progress under Bobby Roberts ending the campaign in a strong eighth in the league table. They were eliminated in the League Cup by Leeds United in the third round, while they could not capitalise on last seasons FA Cup success, exiting the competition in the second round to Watford.

Season overview

A strong start to the season saw Colchester reach the top of the Third Division table following four wins in the first five games. A slump in form ended their promotion hopes following one win in ten games after January and the sale of Colin Garwood to Portsmouth for £25,000. They ended the season in eighth position, eight points behind promoted Preston North End.

In the cups, a League Cup run saw the U's thrash former manager Jim Smith's Second Division Blackburn Rovers 4–0 in a second round replay before facing old cup adversaries Leeds United in the third round. Colchester were humbled 4–0 at Elland Road. In the FA Cup, Bournemouth were seen off after two replays, but Colchester succumbed to Watford in the second round.

Players

Transfers

In

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	From	Fee
Summer 1977	GK	ENG	Ian Cranstone	ENG Tottenham Hotspur	Free transfer
Summer 1977	GK		Bobby Hamilton	Unknown	Unknown
September 1977	CB	ENG	Steve Wignall	ENG Doncaster Rovers	£5,000
1 October 1977	CB	ENG	Steve Wright	ENG Woods Athletic	Free transfer
26 October 1977	MF	ENG	Russell Cotton	Apprentice	Free transfer
26 December 1977	MF	ENG	Eddie Rowles	ENG Darlington	£15,000
March 1978	FW	ENG	Gary Harvey	Apprentice	Free transfer
4 March 1978	MF	ENG	Tony Evans	Apprentice	Free transfer

Total spending: ~ £20,000

Out

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	To	Fee	Ref.
October 1977	CB	ENG	Lindsay Smith	ENG Cambridge United	£12,000	url=http://coludata.co.uk/item.php?pg=player&it=328	title=Lindsay Smith	publisher=Coludata.co.uk	access-date=21 February 2018 }}
February 1978	FW	ENG	John Froggatt	ENG Port Vale	£10,000
4 March 1978	FW	ENG	Colin Garwood	ENG Portsmouth	£25,000

Total incoming: ~ £52,000

Loans out

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	To	End date	Ref.
Summer 1977	CB	ENG	Lindsay Smith	ENG Charlton Athletic	October 1977
October 1977	CB	ENG	Lindsay Smith	ENG Millwall	October 1977

Match details

Third Division

Main article: 1977–78 Football League

Results round by round

|color_-3=green1|color_21-=red1

League table

Matches

Packer Gough Gough Leslie Gough Dowman Garwood Beamish Gough Packer Gough Dennehy Buckley Garwood Bunkell Whittle Garwood Gough Garwood Dowman I. Edwards Dowman Lathan Rowles Taylor Allinson Jeffrey Wignall Finney Biggins Leslie Foley

League Cup

Main article: 1977–78 Football League Cup

Dowman Froggatt Allinson Garwood Graham Lorimer Hankin

FA Cup

Main article: 1977–78 FA Cup

Garwood Mercer

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

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

Goalscorers

Place	Nationality	Position	Name	Third Division	FA Cup	League Cup	Total
1	ENG	FW	Bobby Gough	13	1	3	17
2	ENG	FW	Colin Garwood	8	3	2	13
3	ENG	WG	Ian Allinson	6	0	1	7
ENG	CB	Steve Dowman	5	1	1	7
ENG	MF	Steve Foley	7	0	0	7
6	ENG	FW	John Froggatt	2	0	2	4
7	ENG	MF	Steve Leslie	3	0	0	3
ENG	MF	Eddie Rowles	3	0	0	3
9	ENG	FB	Mick Packer	2	0	0	2
ENG	CB	Steve Wignall	2	0	0	2
11	ENG	MF	Ray Bunkell	1	0	0	1
ENG	FB	Micky Cook	1	0	0	1
ENG	FB	Johnny Williams	1	0	0	1
	Own goals	1	0	1	2
	TOTALS	55	5	10	70

Disciplinary record

Nationality	Position	Name	Third Division	FA Cup
ENG	MF	Steve Leslie	1	1
ENG	WG	Ian Allinson	1	0
ENG	FW	Colin Garwood	1	0
ENG	FW	Bobby Gough	1	0
	TOTALS	4	1	0

Clean sheets

Number of games goalkeepers kept a clean sheet.

Place	Nationality	Player	Third Division	FA Cup	League Cup	Total
1	WAL	Mike Walker	17	1	1	19
	TOTALS	17	1	1	19

Player debuts

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

Position	Nationality	Player	Date	Opponent	Ground
CB	ENG	Steve Wignall	13 September 1977	Portsmouth	Fratton Park
MF	ENG	Eddie Rowles	27 December 1977	Bury	Gigg Lane
MF	ENG	Tony Evans	4 March 1978	Hereford United	Edgar Street
CB	ENG	Steve Wright	8 April 1978	Swindon Town	County Ground
MF	ENG	Russell Cotton	24 April 1978	Port Vale	Vale Park

References

General

Books

Websites

Specific

References

(2008). "The Who's Who of Colchester United: The Layer Road Years". Breedon Books.
"Colchester Utd 1–1 Gillingham". Coludata.co.uk.
"Colchester Utd 0–0 Rotherham United". Coludata.co.uk.
"Average Attendance Figures Per Season". Coludaybyday.co.uk.
Hudson, Matt. (11 July 2012). "The 1970s and 1980s". Colchester United FC.
"Appearances". Coludata.co.uk.
"ian cranstone – fact file". mehstg.com.
(2008). "The Who's Who of Colchester United: The Layer Road Years". Breedon Books.
"Steve Wignall". Coludata.co.uk.
"Steve Wright". Coludata.co.uk.
"Russell Cotton". Coludata.co.uk.
"Eddie Rowles". Coludata.co.uk.
"Gary Harvey". Coludata.co.uk.
"Tony Evans". Coludata.co.uk.
"Lindsay Smith". Coludata.co.uk.
"John Froggatt". Coludata.co.uk.
"Colin Garwood". Coludata.co.uk.
"Goals". Coludata.co.uk.
"Discipline". Coludata.co.uk.
"Clean sheets (1st team)". Coludata.co.uk.
"Alltime- List of Debuts". Coludaybyday.co.uk.

Info: Wikipedia Source

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