1996–97 Colchester United F.C. season

Season overview

Layer Road's Clock End received a makeover during the off season, with a new covered and all seated stand in place.

In the League Cup, Colchester overturned a 3–2 first leg deficit against West Bromwich Albion into victory with a 3–1 win at The Hawthorns with Steve Whitton in goal for the entire second half following an injury to goalkeeper Garrett Caldwell. They were then defeated in the second round by Huddersfield Town.

Colchester made a first round FA Cup exit following defeat by old rivals Wycombe Wanderers.

In September, Mark Kinsella made a move to Charlton Athletic for £150,000.

Paul Buckle scored Colchester's first-ever golden goal in the Football League Trophy against Millwall following a first round win against Cambridge United. In the area quarter-final, the U's dispatched Brentford and then Northampton Town in the semi-final. Colchester then overturned a 2–0 deficit from the first leg of the area final with Peterborough United to win 3–0 after extra time to set up a Wembley final with Carlisle United.

In the final with 45,077 in attendance, neither side could find a breakthrough, and the tie went to extra time following a goalless 90 minutes. Another goalless 30 minutes followed and the match went to a penalty shoot-out. The U's took the lead in the shoot-out after Owen Archdeacon missed Carlisle's second effort, but consecutive misses from youth team product Karl Duguid and Peter Cawley meant that Steve Hayward's converted effort won the shoot-out for Carlisle 4–3.

In the league, six defeats in eight league matches saw Colchester slip to 13th in the table. Manager Steve Wignall said:

Colchester ended the season in 8th position, one point shy of the play-off positions.

Players

Transfers

In

• Total spending: ~ £106,000

Out

• Total incoming: ~ £165,000

Loans in

Loans out

Match details

Third Division

Main article: 1996–97 Football League

Results round by round

League table

Matches

McAuley Morgan Reinelt Cawley Adcock Schofield Reeves Archdeacon Gregory Duguid Kilford Grayson Martin Greene Bos Duguid Whitton Abrahams Taylor Whitton Adcock Fry Adcock Raynor Fry Greene Reinelt Locke Whitton Jones Rigby Adcock Doolan Harper Sale Abrahams Sale Hodges Sale Forbes Haydon

League Cup

Main article: 1996–97 Football League Cup

Fry Hamilton Donovan Dunne Collins

FA Cup

Main article: 1996–97 FA Cup

Williams

Football League Trophy

Main article: 1996–97 Football League Trophy

Savage Buckle Buckle Vaughan Charlery Buckle Abrahams Report Archdeacon Walling Aspinall Hayward Adcock Greene Duguid Cawley

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 0–0 Northampton Town". Coludata.co.uk.
3. "Colchester Utd 1–1 Scunthorpe 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. (3 July 2008). "Ernie Loses Battle With Cancer". Colchester United FC.
8. {{Soccerbase. 33851. Ernie Cooksey
9. "David Greene". Coludata.co.uk.
10. {{Soccerbase. 3070. David Greene
11. "Richard Wilkins (Defender / Midfielder)". Coludata.co.uk.
12. {{Soccerbase. 8509. Richard Wilkins
13. "David Barnes". Coludata.co.uk.
14. {{Soccerbase. 414. David Barnes
15. "Tony Kelly". Coludata.co.uk.
16. {{Soccerbase. 4111. Tony Kelly
17. "Paul Abrahams". Coludata.co.uk.
18. {{Soccerbase. 10. Paul Abrahams
19. "Paul Buckle". Coludata.co.uk.
20. {{Soccerbase. 131. Paul Buckle
21. "Geoff Pitcher". Coludata.co.uk.
22. {{Soccerbase. 6374. Geoff Pitcher
23. "Mark Sale". Coludata.co.uk.
24. {{Soccerbase. 6982. Mark Sale
25. "Steve Forbes". Coludata.co.uk.
26. {{Soccerbase. 2582. Steve Forbes
27. "Scott Stamps". Coludata.co.uk.
28. {{Soccerbase. 7548. Scott Stamps
29. "Tony Cook". Coludata.co.uk.
30. "Ben Lewis". Coludata.co.uk.
31. {{Soccerbase. 9168. Ben Lewis
32. "Steve Ball". Coludata.co.uk.
33. {{Soccerbase. 359. Steve Ball
34. "Gus Caesar". Coludata.co.uk.
35. {{Soccerbase. 1218. Gus Caesar
36. "Tony English". Coludata.co.uk.
37. {{Soccerbase. 2337. Tony English
38. "Tony Dennis". Coludata.co.uk.
39. {{Soccerbase. 2006. Tony Dennis
40. "Jean Dalli". Coludata.co.uk.
41. {{Soccerbase. 1886. Jean Dalli
42. "Mark Kinsella". Coludata.co.uk.
43. {{Soccerbase. 4218. Mark Kinsella
44. "Robbie Reinelt". Coludata.co.uk.
45. {{Soccerbase. 6658. Robbie Reinelt
46. "John Taylor". Coludata.co.uk.
47. {{Soccerbase. 7823. John Taylor
48. "John Vaughan (Goalkeeper)". Coludata.co.uk.
49. {{Soccerbase. 8124. John Vaughan
50. "Tony Lock". Coludata.co.uk.
51. {{Soccerbase. 4574. Tony Lock
52. "Goals". Coludata.co.uk.
53. "Discipline". Coludata.co.uk.
54. "Clean sheets (1st team)". Coludata.co.uk.
55. "Alltime- List of Debuts". Coludaybyday.co.uk.
56. "Colchester Utd 0–2 Hartlepool United". Coludata.co.uk.
57. "Darlington 1–1 Colchester Utd". Coludata.co.uk.
58. "Lincoln City 3–2 Colchester Utd". Coludata.co.uk.
59. "Torquay United 0–2 Colchester Utd". Coludata.co.uk.