1995–96 Colchester United F.C. season

Season overview

Manager Steve Wignall settled into his first full season in charge by bringing in former fan favourite Tony Adcock during the summer. He also allowed Mark Kinsella to remain with the club on a rolling contract while he harboured ambitions of playing at a higher level.

Colchester slipped up in the FA Cup once again to non-League opposition when Gravesend & Northfleet won 2–0 in the first round. This came after Colchester had already exited the League Cup to Bristol City, also in the first round. The U's reached the area quarter-final of the Football League Trophy but were knocked out by Peterborough United

Boosted by the loan signing of striker Scott McGleish from Peterborough and they rallied for the play-off positions late season. With Joe Dunne scoring an injury time winner at Mansfield Town, Colchester needed a win on the final day of the regular season against Doncaster Rovers to secure a play-off spot. Paul Gibbs' mishit cross looped in to seal a narrow 1–0 victory and a play-off semi-final with Neil Warnock's Plymouth Argyle.

Ahead of the play-offs, Warnock taunted:

Mark Kinsella's long range effort gave Colchester a 1–0 win in the first leg in front of a 6,511 Layer Road crowd to make Warnock eat his words. In the away leg at Home Park, Warnock's squad, assembled for over £1m, took an early lead, before taking an aggregate lead prior to half-time through Chris Leadbitter. Kinsella scored just after the hour mark to level the aggregate score at 2–2 but with the vital away goal, but five minutes from time, Plymouth added a third and denied the U's a second trip to Wembley.

Players

Transfers

In

• Total spending: ~ £0

Out

• Total incoming: ~ £0

Loans in

Match details

Third Division

Main article: 1995–96 Football League

Results round by round

League table

Matches

Locke English Mardenborough Joseph Corazzin Cawley Regis Whelan Whitton Bryson Kidd Bannister Cheetham Adcock Reinelt Fry Dennis Jones Adcock Boothroyd Ireland Kinsella Newhouse Duguid Betts Abrahams Devine
McGleish McGleish Betts Howard Locke Gibb Adcock Conroy Angus Smith Chamberlain McGleish Dunne

Football League play-offs

Main article: 1996 Football League play-offs#Third Division

Leadbitter Williams

League Cup

Main article: 1995–96 Football League Cup

Kinsella

Football League Trophy

Main article: 1995–96 Football League Trophy

Reinelt Cawley Stamps Finney Betts McGleish Kinsella

FA Cup

Main article: 1995–96 FA Cup

Mortley

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

|- !colspan="16"|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 1–0 Plymouth Argyle". Coludata.co.uk.
3. "Colchester Utd 5–2 Torquay United". Coludata.co.uk.
4. "Average Attendance Figures Per Season". Coludaybyday.co.uk.
5. Hudson, Matt. (11 August 2013). "The 1990s and 2000s". Colchester United FC.
6. "Appearances". Coludata.co.uk.
7. "Steve Mardenborough". Coludata.co.uk.
8. {{Soccerbase. 4802. Steve Mardenborough
9. "Nicky Haydon". Coludata.co.uk.
10. {{Soccerbase. 9617. Nicky Haydon
11. "Tony Adcock (Forward)". Coludata.co.uk.
12. {{Soccerbase. 26. Tony Adcock
13. "Garrett Caldwell (Goalkeeper)". Coludata.co.uk.
14. {{Soccerbase. 9167. Garrett Caldwell
15. "Robert Boyce". Coludata.co.uk.
16. {{Soccerbase. 9166. Robert Boyce
17. "David Gregory (Midfielder)". Coludata.co.uk.
18. {{Soccerbase. 3081. David Gregory
19. "Karl Duguid (Midfielder)". Coludata.co.uk.
20. {{Soccerbase. 2193. Karl Duguid
21. "Joe Dunne". Coludata.co.uk.
22. {{Soccerbase. 2221. Joe Dunne
23. "Tim Allpress". Coludata.co.uk.
24. {{Soccerbase. 128. Tim Allpress
25. "Leighton Allen". Coludata.co.uk.
26. {{Soccerbase. 112. Leighton Allen
27. "John Cheesewright (Goalkeeper)". Coludata.co.uk.
28. {{Soccerbase. 1428. John Cheesewright
29. "Trevor Putney". Coludata.co.uk.
30. {{Soccerbase. 6513. Trevor Putney
31. "Niall Thompson". Coludata.co.uk.
32. {{Soccerbase. 7907. Niall Thompson
33. "Michael Cheetham". Coludata.co.uk.
34. {{Soccerbase. 1429. Michael Cheetham
35. "David Greene". Coludata.co.uk.
36. {{Soccerbase. 3070. David Greene
37. "Paul Abrahams". Coludata.co.uk.
38. {{Soccerbase. 10. Paul Abrahams
39. "Scott McGleish". Coludata.co.uk.
40. {{Soccerbase. 5108. Scott McGleish
41. "Andy Petterson (Goalkeeper)". Coludata.co.uk.
42. {{Soccerbase. 6306. Andy Petterson
43. "Goals". Coludata.co.uk.
44. "Discipline". Coludata.co.uk.
45. "Clean sheets (1st team)". Coludata.co.uk.
46. "Alltime- List of Debuts". Coludaybyday.co.uk.
47. "Colchester Utd 2–1 Plymouth Argyle". Coludata.co.uk.
48. "Torquay United 2–3 Colchester Utd". Coludata.co.uk.