1955–56 Colchester United F.C. season

Colchester United

1955–56 season
Chairman	Bill Allen[1]
Manager	Benny Fenton
Stadium	Layer Road
Third Division South	12th
FA Cup	1st round (eliminated by Torquay United)
Top goalscorer	League: Kevin McCurley (29) All: Kevin McCurley (29)
Highest home attendance	13,176 v Ipswich Town, 26 December 1955[2]
Lowest home attendance	4,811 v Millwall, 11 February 1956[3]
Average home league attendance	7,668[4]
Biggest win	5–0 v Swindon Town, 3 March 1956
Biggest defeat	0–6 v Leyton Orient, 8 September 1955
Home colours
← 1954–55 1956–57 →

The 1955–56 season was Colchester United's 14th season in their history and their sixth season in the Third Division South, the third tier of English football. Alongside competing in the Third Division South, the club also participated in the FA Cup in which the club were eliminated by Torquay United in the first round. The season was Benny Fenton's first full campaign in charge, and after building his own squad over the summer, he led Colchester to their highest position since the 1951–52 season with a 12th-placed finish. This came on the back of two consecutive seasons of successful re-election applications.

Season overview

Manager Benny Fenton assembled his own squad for the 1955–56 season, bringing in goalkeeper Percy Ames from Tottenham Hotspur, while also signing a number of players from Scottish junior football including John Fowler, Bobby Hill and Sammy McLeod.

Fenton's side played an exciting attacking game. They scored 76 goals in the league, with Kevin McCurley scoring a club Football League best total of 29 goals, and strike partner Ken Plant scoring 17. Both players notched two hat-tricks each during the season as the club safely finished the campaign in 12th-place.

Colchester played their first game under floodlights on 28 February 1955 when they beat Reading 3–1 at Elm Park. While Layer Road was still bereft of floodlighting, lighting had been installed for training purposes at the ground.^[5]

Players

As of match played 28 April 1956.^[6]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player GK Percy Ames GK John Wright DF Bob Dale DF Brian Dobson DF Benny Fenton DF George Fisher DF John Fowler DF George French DF Trevor Harris DF John Harrison DF Bertie Hill

No. Position Player DF Billy Hunt DF Ron Hunt DF Reg Stewart FW Russell Blake FW Bobby Hill FW Martyn King FW Kevin McCurley FW Sammy McLeod FW Alfred Noble FW Ken Plant FW Peter Wright

Match details

Third Division South

Third Division South results round by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42	43	44	45	46
Ground	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	AH	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	A	H
Result	D	L	L	W	L	L	L	W	D	D	L	D	W	W	W	L	W	W	W	D	L	W	L	D	L	W	D	D	W	W	L	W	D	W	W	L	W	L	D	L	D	L	W	L	L	W
Position	13	19	22	19	20	22	23	20	21	21	22	21	20	18	14	16	14	13	12	13	13	11	12	12	14	12	12	12	9	9	11	10	11	9	8	9	7	9	8	9	9	10	9	9	11	12

Last updated: 14 March 2016.
Source:
Ground: A = Away; H = Home. Result: D = Draw; L = Loss; W = Win; P = Postponed.

  Win   Draw   Loss

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv1	Pts2	Promotion, qualification or relegation
10	Gillingham	46	19	10	17	69	71	0.972	48
11	Northampton Town	46	20	7	19	67	71	0.944	47
12	Colchester United	46	18	11	17	76	81	0.938	47
13	Shrewsbury Town	46	17	12	17	69	66	1.045	46
14	Southampton	46	18	8	20	91	81	1.123	44

^{Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal average; 3) Number of goals scored}

^{(C) Champion; (P) Promoted; (Q) Qualified to the phase indicated; (R) Relegated.}

^Notes:

^{1 The system of using goal average to separate two teams tied on points was used up until the 1976–77 season.}

^{2 The points system: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for losing.}

Matches

FA Cup

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

^[6][7]

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Third Division South		FA Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
	GK		Percy Ames	45	0	44	0	1	0
	GK		John Wright	2	0	2	0	0	0
	DF		Bob Dale	40	2	39	2	1	0
	DF		Brian Dobson	6	0	6	0	0	0
	DF		Benny Fenton	33	2	32	2	1	0
	DF		George Fisher	43	1	42	1	1	0
	DF		John Fowler	16	2	16	2	0	0
	DF		Trevor Harris	2	0	2	0	0	0
	DF		John Harrison	41	1	40	1	1	0
	DF		Bertie Hill	22	1	22	1	0	0
	DF		Billy Hunt	1	0	1	0	0	0
	DF		Ron Hunt	3	0	3	0	0	0
	DF		Reg Stewart	42	1	41	1	1	0
	FW		Russell Blake	5	0	5	0	0	0
	FW		Bobby Hill	4	1	4	1	0	0
	FW		Kevin McCurley	47	29	46	29	1	0
	FW		Sammy McLeod	43	2	42	2	1	0
	FW		Alfred Noble	1	0	1	0	0	0
	FW		Ken Plant	37	17	36	17	1	0
	FW		Peter Wright	46	9	45	9	1	0
Players who appeared for Colchester who left during the season
	FW		Mike Grice	38	6	37	6	1	0

Goalscorers

^[7]

Place	Nation	Position	Name	Third Division South	FA Cup	Total
1		FW	Kevin McCurley	29	0	29
2		FW	Ken Plant	17	0	17
3		FW	Peter Wright	9	0	9
4		FW	Mike Grice	6	0	6
5		DF	Bob Dale	2	0	2
		DF	Benny Fenton	2	0	2
		DF	John Fowler	2	0	2
		FW	Sammy McLeod	2	0	2
9		DF	George Fisher	1	0	1
		DF	John Harrison	1	0	1
		DF	Bertie Hill	1	0	1
		FW	Bobby Hill	1	0	1
		DF	Reg Stewart	1	0	1
			Own goals	2	0	2
			TOTALS	76	0	76

Disciplinary record

^[8]

Nationality	Position	Player	Third Division South		FA Cup		Total
		TOTALS	0	0	0	0	0	0

Captains

Number of games played as team captain.^[9]

Place	Nation	Position	Player	Third Division South	FA Cup	Total
			Not recorded	46	1	47

Player debuts

Players making their first-team Colchester United debut in a fully competitive match.^[10]

Position	Player	Date	Opponent	Ground	Notes
GK	Percy Ames	20 August 1955	Exeter City	St James Park
DF	John Fowler	20 August 1955	Exeter City	St James Park
FW	Sammy McLeod	20 August 1955	Exeter City	St James Park
DF	Billy Hunt	27 August 1955	Southend United	Layer Road
DF	George Fisher	1 September 1955	Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic	Layer Road
FW	Russell Blake	8 September 1955	Leyton Orient	Brisbane Road
FW	Alfred Noble	27 December 1955	Ipswich Town	Portman Road
DF	Brian Dobson	24 March 1956	Aldershot	Recreation Ground
FW	Bobby Hill	2 April 1956	Walsall	Fellows Park

Transfers and contracts

In

Date	Pos	Player	From	Fee	Ref
1 May 1955	GK	Percy Ames	Tottenham Hotspur	Free transfer	[11]
1 June 1955	FW	Martyn King	Apprentice	Free transfer	[12]
9 June 1955	FW	Bobby Hill	Easthouses Lily Miners Welfare	Free transfer	[13]
20 August 1955	DF	John Fowler	Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic	Free transfer	[14]
20 August 1955	FW	Sammy McLeod	Easthouses Lily Miners Welfare	Free transfer	[15]
1 September 1955	DF	George Fisher	Fulham	£1,000	[16]
1 September 1955	FW	Alfred Noble	Briggs Sports	Free transfer	[17]

Out

Date	Pos	Player	To	Fee	Ref
4 May 1955	DF	Jimmy Elder	Yeovil Town	Released	[18]
4 May 1955	DF	Fred Lewis	Headington United	Free transfer	[19]
31 May 1955	DF	Austin Dunne	Tonbridge	Free transfer	[20]
31 May 1955	FW	Cliff Birch	Spalding United	Free transfer	[21]
1 July 1955	FW	Paddy Leonard	Tonbridge	Free transfer	[22]
1 August 1955	FW	Johnny McKim	Clacton Town	Released	[23]
1 September 1955	DF	Roy Bicknell	Retired	Retired	[24]
1 February 1956	DF	Frank McCourt	Poole Town	Released	[25]
17 March 1956	FW	Mike Grice	West Ham United	£9,000	[26]

See also

• List of Colchester United F.C. seasons

References

General

Books

• Whitehead, Jeff; Drury, Kevin (2008). The Who's Who of Colchester United: The Layer Road Years. Derby: Breedon Books. ISBN 978-1-85983-629-3. 
• Ambrosen, Tony (1993). Amber in the Blood: A History Of Newport County. Uxbridge: Yore Publications. ISBN 978-1-874427-40-7. 

Websites

• "Colchester United football club match record: 1956". 11v11.com. Retrieved 27 March 2016. 
• "Statistics 1955/56". The Millwall History Files. Retrieved 27 March 2016. 
• "1950/51 to 1959/60" (PDF). Watford Football Club archive 1881–2015. Retrieved 27 March 2016. 

Specific