2010–11 Colchester United F.C. season

Season overview

After less than ten months in charge, Aidy Boothroyd left the club to join Championship side Coventry City. His assistant, John Ward, was promoted to first-team manager. Robbie Cowling announced that a more prudent long-term approach would be required by the club to survive, and so restricted his financial input after three seasons of spending large figures on transfer fees.

Key players from last season left the club over the summer including David Fox, Kevin Lisbie, Clive Platt and David Prutton, while Danny Batth and Kevin Lisbie returned to their parent clubs on the expiry of their loan deals. John Ward made several free transfers to replace them, including free agents Lloyd James and Brian Wilson, non-League players Andy Bond and Ben Coker, while Dave Mooney was signed on a season-long loan from Reading.

August

In the opening game of the season, Colchester quickly went behind 1–0, but found themselves leading by the eleventh minute following an Anthony Wordsworth brace. A late equaliser denied Ward victory in his first game in charge. On 10 August, Dave Mooney registered his first two goals for the club in a 3–0 win at Hereford United in the League Cup. These were to be his only away goals until the penultimate game of the season.

On 14 August, Andy Bond scored his first goal for the club since joining from Barrow against Sheffield Wednesday. The U's were again denied victory by a late equaliser. Ward's first win then followed a week later with a late goal going for them on this occasion. Bond had given the U's the lead at Rochdale, and following an equaliser from the hosts, Ian Henderson grabbed an 84th-minute winner.

On 24 August, in the League Cup second round, Premier League Sunderland hosted Colchester at the Stadium of Light. Two first-half errors from Mark Cousins handed Sunderland victory, with Darren Bent capitalising on both occasions.

For a third time this month, Colchester were again denied victory by a late equaliser during their home game against Carlisle United on 27 August. Carlisle scored a 93rd minute equaliser, cancelling out Dave Mooney's opener.

September

Colchester started September with a 1–0 win at Walsall thanks to an Andy Bond goal. He then recorded his fourth goal in five games in a 1–1 home draw with Plymouth Argyle a week later.

On 18 September, Cousins made up for his mistakes at Sunderland to record a solid point against Southampton, making numerous vital saves. This was followed up with a 3–1 home win over Tranmere Rovers, with Mooney, Wordsworth, and Magnus Okuonghae's goals all coming within the first 31-minutes of play.

On 28 September, Colchester had to settle for a point in an Essex derby game against Dagenham & Redbridge. Having come from behind to lead 2–1 through Ashley Vincent and Dave Mooney goals, the lead was surrendered in the 72nd-minute.

October

On 2 October, the U's recorded another score draw at Milton Keynes Dons, when a dominant first half performance and a goal from Okuonghae was again cancelled out by an opposition equaliser. The U's to this point had made a 10-game unbeaten start to the campaign, while twelve points had been lost from winning positions.

With Ben Williams making a return to the first-team following injury, back-to-back home defeats followed. First, the U's lost 2–0 to rivals Wycombe Wanderers in the Football League Trophy, before being thrashed 3–0 by Huddersfield Town.

Colchester recorded a point at the Colchester Community Stadium against Oldham Athletic before two wins rounded out October. First, a 2–1 win over Notts County, coming from behind to win following a brace of Kayode Odejayi goals, and then a 2–1 win at Dean Court against Bournemouth, Tom Williams and Ian Henderson the scorers.

November

November saw Colchester win two five-goal thrillers in the league and a seven-goal thriller in the FA Cup. First, they came from 2–0 down at home after 18-minutes to Leyton Orient to win 3–2, courtesy of Matt Heath, Dave Mooney and Brian Wilson goals. Then, they edged League Two Bradford City 4–3 in the FA Cup in an evenly contested game, Bond and Wilson the scorers with two from Dave Mooney. They lost 2–1 at Swindon Town on 13 November before registering a 3–2 win over Hartlepool United. Ian Henderson scored a 92nd-minute penalty to win the match after earlier Bond and Odejayi goals.

November ended with a 2–0 home defeat by Brentford, before scraping a 1–0 win over non-League side Swindon Supermarine 1–0 in the second round of the FA Cup on 27 November.

December

Poor weather conditions meant that the U's only played once in the whole of December, a 0–0 draw with Yeovil Town.

January

With Marc Tierney and Paul Reid sold to Championship clubs Norwich City and Scunthorpe United respectively in the transfer window, and Brian Wilson ruled out for eight-weeks through injury, the U's began 2011 with a completely different back four to the one which started the season.

Colchester drew 3–3 with Charlton Athletic on New Year's Day, with both sides having a man sent off. Heath, Bond and Wordsworth were the U's scorers. They then conceded four goals in each of their next two games, suffering a 4–2 defeat to Leyton Orient, and then losing 4–0 at Swansea City in the third round of the FA Cup.

Striker Steven Gillespie made a return from injury and came off the bench to score both of Colchester's goals in their home win against Bournemouth on 14 January.

On 22 January, Colchester held Huddersfield to a 0–0 draw, before suffering a 2–0 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion. They saw out January by recording a 2–1 win over Peterborough United having conceded in the first minute of play.

February

Pat Baldwin was ruled out with an ankle injury for the remainder of the season, prompting Ward to sign Huddersfield's Nathan Clarke on loan, while Mark Cousins replaced Williams in goal following another injury.

Colchester lost 1–0 on 1 February at Charlton after having a genuine goal disallowed. They then lost 1–0 at Hartlepool before returning to winning ways at home to Swindon on 12 February. Colchester's patchy form continued with a 2–0 defeat at Notts County on 15 February, and then registered a 2–0 win against Walsall four days later.

The U's away form was dipping, aside from a 1–1 draw at Peterborough on 22 February. They were then defeated on the road to ten-man Plymouth by 2–1. Only Colchester's home form kept them in touching distance of the play-off places.

March

Kayode Odejayi became the first Colchester striker to score an away goal in just over one year when they recorded a 1–0 win at Bristol Rovers on 1 March. However, four straight defeats all by ruled out Colchester's chances at reaching the play-offs.

First, they were beaten 2–0 by Southampton at home, followed by a 1–0 defeat at Dagenham & Redbridge. A Sam Baldock hat-trick gave MK Dons a 3–1 win at the Community Stadium, before Tranmere Rovers won 1–0 at Prenton Park. This result left Colchester closer to the relegation zone than the play-offs.

Two home victories ensured the U's moved away from the relegation places, with a 1–0 win over Oldham, before registering their best result of the season, a 5–1 win against nine-man Exeter on 26 March.

April

Colchester suffered defeat in Sheffield when they lost 2–1 to Wednesday at Hillsborough, but did earn a 1–0 home victory over Rochdale on 9 April. The long trip to Carlisle brought about a 4–1 defeat for the U's, before registering an away point at Brentford.

On 25 April, Colchester earned a point against champions-elect Brighton, but rounded off April with a 4–2 defeat at Yeovil.

May

In their final game of the season, Colchester faced already-relegated Bristol Rovers and won 2–1 thanks to two an Ian Henderson brace.

Players

Transfers

In

• Total spending: ~ £0

Out

• Total incoming: ~ £0

Loans in

Loans out

Match details

League One

Main article: 2010–11 Football League One

League table

Results round by round

Matches

Logan I. Henderson Molyneux Wordsworth Okuonghae Mooney Vincelot Pilkington Rhodes Croft I. Henderson Mooney Wilson Austin Odejayi I. Henderson Horwood MacDonald Bond Wordsworth Perkins Benson
Revell M'Poku Téhoué I. Henderson Noone Mooney Gillespie Clarke Mooney Bolasie Clark Hammond Mooney Vincent Bond Tully Golbourne Curran Noble Tutte Bowditch Welsh Mooney

Football League Cup

Main article: 2010–11 Football League Cup

I. Henderson

Football League Trophy

Main article: 2010–11 Football League Trophy

Davies

FA Cup

Main article: 2010–11 FA Cup

Mooney Wilson Syers Pratley Van der Gun Sinclair

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

|- !colspan="16"|Players who appeared for Colchester who left during the season |}

Goalscorers

Disciplinary record

Captains

Number of games played as team captain.

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

Specific

References

1. "Colchester Utd 0–2 Southampton". Coludata.co.uk.
2. "Colchester Utd 0–2 Wycombe Wanderers". Coludata.co.uk.
3. "Average Attendance Figures Per Season". Coludaybyday.co.uk.
4. Watson, Stuart. (19 May 2011). "Season of stability has felt like a rollercoaster at times". Green'Un 24.
5. "Appearances". Coludata.co.uk.
6. "Colchester United". FootballSquads.
7. "All Colchester United football club players: 2011". 11v11.com.
8. "Andy Bond". Coludata.co.uk.
9. {{Soccerbase. 41442. Andy Bond
10. "Brian Wilson". Coludata.co.uk.
11. {{Soccerbase. 28631. Brian Wilson
12. "Lloyd James". Coludata.co.uk.
13. {{Soccerbase. 48648. Lloyd James
14. "Ben Coker". Coludata.co.uk.
15. {{Soccerbase. 49785. Ben Coker
16. "Ben Coker". 11v11.com.
17. "Carl Pentney". Coludata.co.uk.
18. {{Soccerbase. 46846. Carl Pentney
19. "Jordan Sanderson". Coludata.co.uk.
20. {{Soccerbase. 59471. Jordan Sanderson
21. "Conor Powell". Coludata.co.uk.
22. {{Soccerbase. 55020. Conor Powell
23. "Phil Ifil". Coludata.co.uk.
24. {{Soccerbase. 39138. Phil Ifil
25. "David Fox". Coludata.co.uk.
26. {{Soccerbase. 39789. David Fox
27. "David Prutton". Coludata.co.uk.
28. {{Soccerbase. 17848. David Prutton
29. "Matt Lockwood". Coludata.co.uk.
30. {{Soccerbase. 4578. Matt Lockwood
31. "Russell Malton". 11v11.com.
32. {{Soccerbase. 98877. Russell Malton
33. "Alan Maybury". Coludata.co.uk.
34. {{Soccerbase. 8906. Alan Maybury
35. "Scott Vernon". Coludata.co.uk.
36. {{Soccerbase. 33620. Scott Vernon
37. "Clive Platt". Coludata.co.uk.
38. {{Soccerbase. 9302. Clive Platt
39. "Joël Thomas". Coludata.co.uk.
40. {{Soccerbase. 49713. Joel Thomas
41. "Marc Tierney". Coludata.co.uk.
42. {{Soccerbase. 35713. Marc Tierney
43. "Paul Reid". Coludata.co.uk.
44. {{Soccerbase. 18282. Paul Reid
45. "David Mooney". Coludata.co.uk.
46. {{Soccerbase. 49791. David Mooney
47. "Liam Henderson". Coludata.co.uk.
48. {{Soccerbase. 47181. Liam Henderson
49. "Tom Williams (Defender)". Coludata.co.uk.
50. {{Soccerbase. 24437. Tom Williams
51. "Matthías Vilhjálmsson". Coludata.co.uk.
52. {{Soccerbase. 49621. Matthias Vilhjalmsson
53. "Nathan Clarke (Defender)". Coludata.co.uk.
54. {{Soccerbase. 27911. Nathan Clarke
55. "Tommy Smith". Coludata.co.uk.
56. {{Soccerbase. 48793. Tommy Smith
57. "Medy Elito". Coludata.co.uk.
58. {{Soccerbase. 46689. Medy Elito
59. "Medy Elito". Coludata.co.uk.
60. "Simon Hackney". Coludata.co.uk.
61. {{Soccerbase. 40810. Simon Hackney
62. "Sam Corcoran". Coludata.co.uk.
63. {{Soccerbase. 51316. Sam Corcoran
64. "Sam Corcoran". Coludata.co.uk.
65. "Goals". Coludata.co.uk.
66. "Discipline". Coludata.co.uk.
67. "All matches". Coludata.co.uk.
68. "Clean sheets (1st team)". Coludata.co.uk.
69. "Alltime- List of Debuts". Coludaybyday.co.uk.