1957–58 Colchester United F.C. season

Colchester United

1957–58 season
Chairman	Bill Allen[1]
Manager	Benny Fenton
Stadium	Layer Road
Third Division South	12th
FA Cup	1st round (eliminated by Wisbech Town)
Top goalscorer	League: Ken Plant (19) All: Ken Plant (19)
Highest home attendance	11,077 v Norwich City, 14 September 1957[2]
Lowest home attendance	4,391 v Northampton Town, 30 September 1957[3]
Average home league attendance	10,891[4]
Biggest win	4–0 v Watford, 26 December 1957
Biggest defeat	0–7 v Reading, 18 September 1957
Home colours
← 1956–57 1958–59 →

The 1957–58 season was Colchester United's 16th season in their history and their eighth 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. They were eliminated at the first round stage of the cup for the fifth successive season, on this occasion to non-league side Wisbech Town. In the league, with the division being restructured at the end of the season, Colchester managed to finish in the top half of the table by three points to avoid a move to the newly formed Fourth Division, instead remaining in the third tier.

Season overview

With Football League reorganisation looming at the end of the season, Colchester's priority for the 1957–58 season was to finish in the top half of the table to join the top half of the Third Division North to form the new nationwide Third Division. The other teams would form the Fourth Division.

During the campaign, Benny Fenton's squad suffered from numerous call-ups for national service, and as such Fenton brought in reinforcements in November with Neil Langman arriving from Plymouth Argyle for £6,750 and John Evans for £4,000 from Liverpool. Meanwhile, Birmingham City offered Colchester £10,000 for winger Peter Wright, but he opted to remain as a part-time player.

Colchester secured their place in the third tier for another season in the final game of the season when they beat Southampton 4–2 at Layer Road.^[5]

Players

As of match played 1 May 1957.^[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 Brian Dobson DF Benny Fenton DF George Fisher DF John Fowler DF Trevor Harris DF Bertie Hill DF Ron Hunt DF John Laidlaw DF Alf Marshall DF Chic Milligan DF Derek Parker

No. Position Player DF Edgar Rumney FW Russell Blake FW John Evans FW Bobby Hill FW Martyn King FW Neil Langman FW Kevin McCurley FW Sammy McLeod FW Hamish McNeill FW Ken Plant FW Tommy Williams 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	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	H
Result	W	L	D	W	W	L	L	L	D	L	D	W	L	D	W	D	W	W	L	D	W	D	L	W	W	D	D	W	D	W	L	W	L	W	W	L	L	L	D	D	D	L	L	W	L	W
Position	7	3	11	7	6	6	13	15	16	22	21	16	21	15	13	12	7	7	8	8	7	8	12	11	11	12	10	8	8	9	9	7	8	8	7	9	10	11	10	11	11	12	12	12	12	12

Last updated: 21 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	Queens Park Rangers	46	18	14	14	64	65	0.985	50
11	Newport County	46	17	14	15	73	67	1.090	48
12	Colchester United	46	17	13	16	77	79	0.975	47
13	Northampton Town	46	19	6	21	87	79	1.101	44	Moved to Fourth Division
14	Crystal Palace	46	15	13	18	70	72	0.972	43

^{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	47	0	46	0	1	0
	DF		Brian Dobson	17	0	16	0	1	0
	DF		Benny Fenton	23	3	23	3	0	0
	DF		George Fisher	46	1	45	1	1	0
	DF		John Fowler	46	0	46	0	0	0
	DF		Trevor Harris	7	0	7	0	0	0
	DF		Bertie Hill	32	0	31	0	1	0
	DF		Ron Hunt	4	0	4	0	0	0
	DF		Chic Milligan	27	0	26	0	1	0
	DF		Derek Parker	30	1	29	1	1	0
	DF		Edgar Rumney	5	0	5	0	0	0
	FW		Russell Blake	8	2	8	2	0	0
	FW		John Evans	24	7	24	7	0	0
	FW		Bobby Hill	11	0	11	0	0	0
	FW		Neil Langman	23	8	23	8	0	0
	FW		Kevin McCurley	29	12	28	12	1	0
	FW		Sammy McLeod	16	2	15	2	1	0
	FW		Hamish McNeill	2	1	2	1	0	0
	FW		Ken Plant	45	19	44	19	1	0
	FW		Tommy Williams	29	5	28	5	1	0
	FW		Peter Wright	46	16	45	16	1	0

Goalscorers

^[7]

Place	Nation	Position	Name	Third Division South	FA Cup	Total
1		FW	Ken Plant	19	0	19
2		FW	Peter Wright	16	0	16
3		FW	Kevin McCurley	12	0	12
4		FW	Neil Langman	8	0	8
5		FW	John Evans	7	0	7
6		FW	Tommy Williams	5	0	5
7		DF	Benny Fenton	3	0	3
8		FW	Russell Blake	2	0	2
		FW	Sammy McLeod	2	0	2
10		DF	George Fisher	1	0	1
		FW	Hamish McNeill	1	0	1
		DF	Derek Parker	1	0	1
			Own goals	0	0	0
			TOTALS	77	0	77

Disciplinary record

^[8]

Nationality	Position	Player	Third Division South		FA Cup		Total
	DF	Benny Fenton	1	0	0	0	1	0
		TOTALS	1	0	0	0	1	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
DF	Edgar Rumney	2 September 1957	Queens Park Rangers	Layer Road
FW	Hamish McNeill	21 September 1957	Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic	Dean Court
FW	John Evans	23 November 1957	Port Vale	Layer Road
FW	Neil Langman	23 November 1957	Port Vale	Layer Road

Transfers and contracts

In

Date	Pos	Player	From	Fee	Ref
1 May 1957	DF	Edgar Rumney	Colchester Casuals	Free transfer	[11]
1 June 1957	DF	John Laidlaw	Easthouses Lily Miners Welfare	Free transfer	[12]
1 August 1957	FW	Hamish McNeill	Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic	£600	[13]
14 October 1957	DF	Alf Marshall	Dagenham	£25	[14]
23 November 1957	FW	John Evans	Liverpool	£4,000	[15]
23 November 1957	FW	Neil Langman	Plymouth Argyle	£6,750	[16]

Out

Date	Pos	Player	To	Fee	Ref
31 May 1957	FW	Les Barrell	Clacton Town	Released	[17]
1 June 1957	FW	Eddie Smith	Queens Park Rangers	£1,050	[18]
1 July 1957	DF	Reg Stewart	Hastings Town	Free transfer	[19]

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. 
• Kent, Jeff (1990). The Valiants' Years: The Story of Port Vale. Stafford: Witan Books. ISBN 0-9508981-4-7. 

Websites

• "Colchester United football club match record: 1958". 11v11.com. Retrieved 27 March 2016. 
• "Statistics 1957/58". 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