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1990–91 Colchester United F.C. season

Field	Value
club	Colchester United
season	1990–91
chairman	Jonathan Crisp
manager	Ian Atkins
stadium	Layer Road
league	Conference
league result	2nd
cup1	FA Cup
cup1 result	2nd round
(eliminated by
Leyton Orient)
cup2	FA Trophy
cup2 result	Quarter-final
(eliminated by
Witton Albion)
cup3	Bob Lord Trophy
cup3 result	3rd round
(eliminated by
Sutton United)
league topscorer
Mario Walsh (17)
season topscorer
Mario Walsh (18)
highest attendance	7,221
v Altrincham, 20 April 1991
lowest attendance	1,966
v Northwich Victoria, 1 September 1990
average attendance	3,196
largest win	4–0
v Carlisle United, 6 March 1990
largest loss	0–3
v Merthyr Tydfil, 15 December 1990
1–4
v Leyton Orient, 17 December 1990
pattern_name1	Home
pattern_la1	_white_stripes
pattern_b1	_3stripesonwhite
pattern_ra1	_white_stripes
pattern_so1	_color_3_stripes_white
leftarm1	000080
body1	000080
rightarm1	000080
shorts1	000080
socks1	000080
prevseason	1989–90
nextseason	1991–92

(eliminated by Leyton Orient) (eliminated by Witton Albion) (eliminated by Sutton United) Mario Walsh (17) Mario Walsh (18) v Altrincham, 20 April 1991 v Northwich Victoria, 1 September 1990 v Carlisle United, 6 March 1990 v Merthyr Tydfil, 15 December 1990 1–4 v Leyton Orient, 17 December 1990 The 1990–91 season was Colchester United's 49th season in their history and their first season outside of the Football League for 40 years following relegation from the Fourth Division the season prior. Now competing in the Conference, the fifth tier of English football and the highest level on non-League football in England, the club also participated in the FA Cup, the FA Trophy and the Bob Lord Trophy.

Ian Atkins took over from Mick Mills as manager for Colchester's first season in the Conference. The club remained fully professional in their bid to return to the Football League at the first attempt. They fell agonisingly short, just two-points shy of champions and promoted Barnet.

Colchester were knocked out by Leyton Orient in the second round of the FA Cup. They reached the quarter-final of the FA Trophy, losing to Witton Albion, while they also suffered defeat to Sutton United in the Bob Lord Trophy.

Season overview

Ian Atkins was appointed as the manager charged with returning Colchester United to the Football League at the first attempt, like Lincoln City and Darlington had prior to them. Atkins registered as a player, while the club reinstated its historic navy and white striped kits. To help clear club debts, Layer Road was sold back to the Council for £1.2m with the club leasing it back for a maximum of three seasons.

Colchester started the season with a 100 per cent record from their opening six home games, but it took the U's until April to reach top spot in the Conference table. Both Barnet and Kettering Town were Colchester's main title challengers throughout the season.

In the FA Cup, United were dispatched by League opposition Leyton Orient following a 0–0 draw at Layer Road. The O's beat the U's 4–1 at Brisbane Road. Colchester reached the quarter-final of the FA Trophy in their first time playing in the competition, beaten by Witton Albion. In the Bob Lord Trophy, Sutton United saw off Colchester in the third round of the competition.

In the closing weeks of the Conference season, Layer Road attracted a season record 7,221 crowd for the visit of late promotion pushers Altrincham. The U's could only manage a 1–1 draw, and with Barnet improving on Colchester's results until the close of the season pipped United to the Conference title by two points.

Chairman Jonathan Crisp was left fuming:

During the summer he left the club, handing over to new chairman James Bowdidge, while Atkins also left the club to rejoin Birmingham City as player-assistant manager.

Players

Transfers

In

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	From	Fee	Ref.
Summer 1990	GK	ENG	Scott Barrett	ENG Stoke City	£25,000
1 June 1990	CB	ENG	Ian Atkins	ENG Birmingham City	Free transfer
27 August 1990	MF/FB	ENG	Warren Donald	ENG Northampton Town	Free transfer
1 September 1990	FW	ENG	Mario Walsh	ENG Southend United	£25,000
3 September 1990	WG	ENG	Mark Rees	ENG Walsall	Free transfer	url=http://www.coludata.co.uk/item.php?pg=player&it=500	title=Mark Rees	publisher=Coludata.co.uk	access-date=1 August 2018 }}
18 September 1990	FW	WAL	Morrys Scott	WAL Cardiff City	Undisclosed	url=http://www.coludata.co.uk/item.php?pg=player&it=495	title=Morrys Scott	publisher=Coludata.co.uk	access-date=1 August 2018 }}
18 September 1990	LM	ENG	Nicky Smith	ENG Southend United	Free transfer
13 October 1990	FW	ENG	Roy McDonough	ENG Southend United	Part exchange with Morrys Scott
December 1990	FW	ENG	Laurie Ryan	ENG Cambridge United	Free transfer	url=http://www.coludata.co.uk/item.php?pg=player&it=499	title=Laurie Ryan	publisher=Coludata.co.uk	access-date=1 August 2018 }}
15 December 1990	CB	ENG	Shaun Elliott	ENG Blackpool	£7,000
21 January 1991	MF	ENG	Garry Brooke	ENG Brentford	Trial	url=http://www.coludata.co.uk/item.php?pg=player&it=503	title=Garry Brooke	publisher=Coludata.co.uk	access-date=1 August 2018 }}
26 February 1991	MF	IRL	Wayne Hannigan	IRL Home Farm	Undisclosed
March 1991	FB	ENG	Gary Osbourne	ENG Stourbridge	Undisclosed
1 April 1991	FW	ENG	Steve McGavin	ENG Sudbury Town	£10,000

Total spending: ~ £67,000

Out

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	To	Fee	Ref.
End of season	MF	ENG	Robbie Devereux	ENG Sudbury Town	Released
Summer 1990	CB	ENG	Billy Gilbert	ENG Maidstone United	Released
Summer 1990	FW	ENG	Trevor Morgan	HKG Happy Valley	Released
27 August 1990	FW	WAL	Morrys Scott	ENG Southend United	Part exchange with Roy McDonough	name=FG	Date of departure refers to the date of the player's final game for the club}}
22 September 1990	WG	ENG	Mark Rees	LUX Unknown Luxembourg club	Released	name=FG}}
December 1990	FB	ENG	Clive Stafford	ENG Bury Town	Free transfer	url=http://www.coludata.co.uk/item.php?pg=player&it=474	title=Clive Stafford	publisher=Coludata.co.uk	access-date=1 August 2018 }}
21 January 1991	MF	ENG	Garry Brooke	ENG Brentford	End of trial	name=FG}}
31 March 1991	MF	ENG	Mark Radford	Free agent	Released
After March 1991	CB	ENG	John Pollard	ENG Bury Town	Released	url=http://www.coludata.co.uk/item.php?pg=player&it=476	title=John Pollard	publisher=Coludata.co.uk	access-date=1 August 2018 }}
April 1991	MF	ENG	Les Taylor	ENG Oxford United	Released
26 April 1991	CB	ENG	Scott Daniels	ENG Exeter City	£50,000
4 May 1991	FW	ENG	Laurie Ryan	ENG Cambridge City	Released	name=FG}}

Total incoming: ~ £50,000

Loans in

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	From	End date	Ref.
18 August 1990	MF	ENG	Mark Yates	ENG Birmingham City	2 February 1991
September 1990	FW	ENG	Laurie Ryan	ENG Cambridge United	29 September 1990	name=Loanend1	Loan end date refers to the date of the player's final game in his first spell for the club}}
24 November 1990	FW	USA	Mike Masters	USA San Francisco Bay Blackhawks	25 March 1991
30 March 1991	CB	ENG	Rudi Hedman	ENG Crystal Palace	4 May 1991
30 March 1991	FW	ENG	Dave Leworthy	ENG Reading	30 April 1991

Loans out

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	To	End date	Ref.
Autumn 1990	FW	ENG	Steve Restarick	ENG Bury Town	Autumn 1990	url=http://www.coludata.co.uk/item.php?pg=player&it=493	title=Steve Restarick	publisher=Coludata.co.uk	access-date=1 August 2018 }}
October 1990	FB	ENG	Clive Stafford	ENG Bury Town	October 1990
March 1991	CB	ENG	John Pollard	ENG Fisher Athletic	March 1991
March 1991	FW	ENG	Steve Restarick	ENG Fisher Athletic	March 1991

Match details

Pre-season friendly

Conference

Main article: 1990–91 Football Conference

League table

Results round by round

Matches

Conning Bennett Collins Yates English Yates Walsh Bennett Bennett Walsh Burns Marmon Yates English Walsh McDonough
Walsh English Walsh Walsh Masters Walsh Shaw McDonough Walsh Bennett Byrne Walsh McDonough Blain McDonough English English Donald Langford Leworthy

FA Cup

Main article: 1990–91 FA Cup

Marmon Howard Pike Castle Grainger

FA Trophy

Main article: 1990–91 FA Trophy

Marmon Elliott Bennett

Bob Lord Trophy

Mehmet Restarick Massey

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

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

Goalscorers

Place	Nationality	Position	Name	Conference	FA Cup	FA Trophy	Bob Lord Trophy	Total
1	ENG	FW	Mario Walsh	17	0	1	0	18
2	ENG	WG	Gary Bennett	9	0	3	0	12
3	ENG	FW	Roy McDonough	8	0	1	0	9
4	ENG	CB	Ian Atkins	7	1	0	0	8
5	ENG	DF/MF	Tony English	7	0	0	0	7
6	ENG	MF	Mark Yates	6	0	0	0	6
7	ENG	CB	Neale Marmon	2	1	1	1	5
8	ENG	FW	Dave Leworthy	4	0	0	0	4
9	ENG	FW	Laurie Ryan	3	0	0	0	3
10	IRL	MF	Eamonn Collins	2	0	0	0	2
USA	FW	Mike Masters	1	1	0	0	2
ENG	FW	Steve Restarick	0	0	0	2	2
13	ENG	CB	Scott Daniels	1	0	0	0	1
ENG	MF/FB	Warren Donald	1	0	0	0	1
	Own goals	0	0	0	0	0
	TOTALS	68	3	6	3	80

Disciplinary record

Nationality	Position	Name	Conference	FA Cup	FA Trophy	Bob Lord Trophy	Total
ENG	FW	Roy McDonough	3	1	0	0	0
ENG	CB	Shaun Elliott	0	0	0	0	1
ENG	FB	Martin Grainger	0	0	0	1	0
ENG	CB	Neale Marmon	2	0	0	0	0
ENG	CB	Ian Atkins	0	0	0	0	0
IRL	MF	Eamonn Collins	0	0	1	0	0
ENG	MF/FB	Warren Donald	1	0	0	0	0
	TOTALS	6	1	1	1	2	1

Clean sheets

Number of games goalkeepers kept a clean sheet.

Place	Nationality	Player	Conference	FA Cup	FA Trophy	Bob Lord Trophy	Total
1	ENG	Scott Barrett	16	1	3	0	20
	TOTALS	16	1	3	0	20

Player debuts

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

Position	Nationality	Player	Date	Opponent	Ground
CB	ENG	Ian Atkins	18 August 1990	Yeovil Town	Huish Park
GK	ENG	Scott Barrett	18 August 1990	Yeovil Town	Huish Park
FW	WAL	Morrys Scott	18 August 1990	Yeovil Town	Huish Park
LM	ENG	Nicky Smith	18 August 1990	Yeovil Town	Huish Park
MF	ENG	Mark Yates	18 August 1990	Yeovil Town	Huish Park
MF/FB	ENG	Warren Donald	27 August 1990	Fisher Athletic	Surrey Docks Stadium
FW	ENG	Mario Walsh	1 September 1990	Northwich Victoria	Layer Road
FW	ENG	Laurie Ryan	19 September 1990	Boston United	York Street
WG	ENG	Mark Rees	22 September 1990	Cheltenham Town	Layer Road
FW	ENG	Roy McDonough	13 October 1990	Sutton United	Layer Road
FW	USA	Mike Masters	24 November 1990	Wycombe Wanderers	Layer Road
CB	ENG	Shaun Elliott	15 December 1990	Merthyr Tydfil	Penydarren Park
FW	ENG	Laurie Ryan	15 December 1990	Merthyr Tydfil	Penydarren Park
MF	ENG	Garry Brooke	21 January 1991	Fisher Athletic	Surrey Docks Stadium
MF	IRL	Wayne Hannigan	26 February 1991	Sutton United	Gander Green Lane
CB	ENG	Rudi Hedman	30 March 1991	Yeovil Town	Layer Road
FW	ENG	Dave Leworthy	30 March 1991	Yeovil Town	Layer Road
FW	ENG	Steve McGavin	1 April 1991	Gateshead	Gateshead International Stadium
FB	ENG	Gary Osbourne	1 April 1991	Gateshead	Gateshead International Stadium

References

General

Books

Specific

References

(2008). "The Who's Who of Colchester United: The Layer Road Years". Breedon Books.
"GM Vauxhall Conference 1990-91". English Non-League Archive.
"Colchester Utd 1–1 Altrincham". Coludata.co.uk.
"Colchester Utd 4–0 Northwich Victoria". Coludata.co.uk.
"Average Attendance Figures Per Season". Coludaybyday.co.uk.
Hudson, Matt. (11 August 2013). "The 1990s and 2000s". Colchester United FC.
"Appearances". Coludata.co.uk.
"Scott Barrett (Goalkeeper)". Coludata.co.uk.
"Ian Atkins". Coludata.co.uk.
"Warren Donald". Coludata.co.uk.
"Mario Walsh". Coludata.co.uk.
"Mark Rees". Coludata.co.uk.
"Morrys Scott". Coludata.co.uk.
"Nicky Smith". Coludata.co.uk.
"Roy McDonough". Coludata.co.uk.
"Laurie Ryan". Coludata.co.uk.
"Shaun Elliott". Coludata.co.uk.
"Garry Brooke". Coludata.co.uk.
"Wayne Hannigan". Coludata.co.uk.
"Gary Osbourne". Coludata.co.uk.
"Steve McGavin". Coludata.co.uk.
"Robbie Devereux". Coludata.co.uk.
"Billy Gilbert". Coludata.co.uk.
"Trevor Morgan". Coludata.co.uk.
"Clive Stafford". Coludata.co.uk.
"Mark Radford". Coludata.co.uk.
"John Pollard". Coludata.co.uk.
"Les Taylor". Coludata.co.uk.
"Scott Daniels". Coludata.co.uk.
"Mark Yates". Coludata.co.uk.
"Mike Masters". Coludata.co.uk.
"Rudi Hedman". Coludata.co.uk.
"David Leworthy (Forward)". Coludata.co.uk.
"Steve Restarick". 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.
"Yeovil Town 2–0 Colchester Utd". Coludata.co.uk.
"Colchester Utd 4–0 Northwich Victoria". Coludata.co.uk.
"Colchester Utd 1–0 Sutton United". Coludata.co.uk.
"Merthyr Tydfil 3–0 Colchester Utd". Coludata.co.uk.
"Colchester Utd 0–1 Yeovil Town". Coludata.co.uk.

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