1961–62 Colchester United F.C. season

Colchester United

1961–62 season
Chairman	Bill Allen[1]
Manager	Benny Fenton
Stadium	Layer Road
Fourth Division	2nd (promoted)
FA Cup	1st round (eliminated by Peterborough United)
League Cup	1st round (eliminated by Crewe Alexandra)
Top goalscorer	League: Bobby Hunt (38) All: Bobby Hunt (40)
Highest home attendance	10,653 v Peterborough United, 6 November 1961[2]
Lowest home attendance	3,782 v Oldham Athletic, 23 December 1961[3]
Average home league attendance	5,532[4]
Biggest win	9–1 v Bradford City, 30 December 1961
Biggest defeat	0–5 v York City, 7 October 1961
Home colours
← 1960–61 1962–63 →

The 1961–62 season was Colchester United's 20th season in their history and their first-ever season in the fourth tier of English football, the Fourth Division. Alongside competing in the Fourth Division, the club also participated in the FA Cup and the League Cup.

Colchester bounced back to the Third Division at the first time of asking, earning their first promotion in the club's history by finishing as runners-up. By the end of the campaign, Colchester trailed Millwall by just one point, winning 23 games and scoring 104 league goals with Bobby Hunt the division's top scorer. The club experienced their record victory during the season when they beat Bradford City 9–1 on 30 December.

In the cup competitions, first-round exits were experienced in both FA and League cups. Colchester were beaten at home to Crewe Alexandra in September in the League Cup, while it took Peterborough United three attempts to overcome Colchester in the FA Cup first round following a second replay.

Season overview

At the end of a very disappointing 1960–61 season, manager Benny Fenton cut his playing squad by ten players, with players including Neil Langman, Chic Milligan and Tommy Williams all released. The club was over £3,300 in debt, and so a fresh start required for the new season with a new, slimline squad. Just 17 players would be used in the new campaign, with eight of those playing over 40 of the 44 league games possible.

The season started well for Colchester, unbeaten in their first nine league games and scoring 31 goals in the first eight home games to top the Fourth Division table.

During Colchester's heaviest defeat of the season, a 5–0 reverse at York City, the 20-month old son of full-back Tommy Millar drowned in a garden pond accident while Millar was playing in the game. This tragedy would also spell the end of Millar's Colchester career when he left to return to Scotland in early 1962. This coincided with a poor run of form and the club slipped to third in the table.

On the back of a 4–1 Boxing Day defeat to Bradford City, Colchester set their record club victory in the return fixture at Layer Road on 30 December. Both Bobby Hunt and strike-partner Martyn King scored four goals each, with Bobby Hill scoring the other as Colchester ran out 9–1 winners. A 4–0 victory at Accrington Stanley saw United regain the top spot from Wrexham, but just a few weeks later, Accrington folded and Colchester's 3–2 and 4–0 wins were expunged.

Defeats to Millwall and Wrexham cost Colchester the championship. Millwall took the title by one point as United finished runners-up with eleven away defeats proving costly. Of the record 104 goals scored in the league during the season, 78 came at home, while Martyn King broke his seasonal record by scoring 31 league goals only to be surpassed by Bobby Hunt with 38, a new club record. Hunt scored three hat-tricks on his way to his tally of 38 with two of those four goal hauls.^[5]

Players

As of match played 30 April 1962.^[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 George Ramage DF Brian Abrey DF John Brown DF Duncan Forbes DF John Fowler DF Richie Griffiths DF Trevor Harris DF Ron Hunt DF Mick Loughton DF Alf Marshall DF Edgar Rumney

No. Position Player FW John Baines FW David Coleman FW Mike Foster FW Bobby Hill FW Tony Howe FW Bobby Hunt FW Martyn King FW Colin Lundstrum FW Sammy McLeod FW Tony Miller FW Peter Wright

Match details

Fourth Division

Fourth Division 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
Ground	H	H	A	A	A	A	H	A	A	H	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H
Result	W	W	D	D	W	W	W	W	L	W	W	W	L	D	D	L	D	D	W	W	L	W	W	L	W	L	W	W	D	W	L	W	L	W	L	W	L	D	L	W	W	L	D	W
Position	6	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	2	1	1	3	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	3	3	2	3	3	2

Last updated: 28 April 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
1	Millwall (C, P)	44	23	10	11	87	62	1.403	56	Promoted to Third Division
2	Colchester United (P)	44	23	9	12	104	71	1.465	55
3	Wrexham (P)	44	22	9	13	96	56	1.714	53
4	Carlisle United (P)	44	22	8	14	64	63	1.016	52
5	Bradford City	44	21	9	14	94	86	1.093	51

^{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

League Cup

FA Cup

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

^[6][7]

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Fourth Division		FA Cup		League Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
	GK		Percy Ames	48	0	44	0	3	0	1	0
	DF		Brian Abrey	42	2	38	1	3	1	1	0\
	DF		Duncan Forbes	6	0	6	0	0	0	0	0
	DF		John Fowler	48	0	44	0	3	0	1	0
	DF		Richie Griffiths	16	0	16	0	0	0	0	0
	DF		Trevor Harris	47	4	43	4	3	0	1	0
	DF		Ron Hunt	48	0	44	0	3	0	1	0
	DF		Edgar Rumney	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
	FW		David Coleman	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
	FW		Mike Foster	40	8	36	8	3	0	1	0
	FW		Bobby Hill	44	3	40	3	3	0	1	0
	FW		Bobby Hunt	47	40	43	38	3	2	1	0
	FW		Martyn King	46	33	43	31	2	1	1	1
	FW		Colin Lundstrum	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
	FW		Sammy McLeod	13	3	12	3	1	0	0	0
	FW		Peter Wright	48	13	44	12	3	1	1	0
Players who appeared for Colchester who left during the season
	DF		Tommy Millar	31	4	27	4	3	0	1	0

Goalscorers

^[7]

Place	Nation	Position	Name	Third Division	FA Cup	League Cup	Total
1		FW	Bobby Hunt	38	2	0	40
2		FW	Martyn King	31	1	1	33
3		FW	Peter Wright	12	1	0	13
4		FW	Mike Foster	8	0	0	8
5		DF	Trevor Harris	4	0	0	4
		DF	Tommy Millar	4	0	0	4
7		FW	Bobby Hill	3	0	0	3
		FW	Sammy McLeod	3	0	0	3
9		DF	Brian Abrey	1	1	0	2
			Own goals	0	0	0	0
			TOTALS	104	5	1	110

Disciplinary record

^[8]

Nationality	Position	Player	Fourth Division		FA Cup		League Cup		Total
	FW	Martyn King	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
		TOTALS	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1

Captains

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

Place	Nation	Position	Player	Fourth Division	FA Cup	League Cup	Total
			Not recorded	44	3	1	48

Player debuts

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

Position	Player	Date	Opponent	Ground	Notes
DF	Brian Abrey	19 August 1961	Stockport County	Layer Road
FW	Mike Foster	19 August 1961	Stockport County	Layer Road
FW	David Coleman	18 November 1961	Rochdale	Spotland Stadium
FW	Colin Lundstrum	15 January 1962	Mansfield Town	Field Mill
DF	Richie Griffiths	3 February 1962	Hartlepools United	Victoria Park
DF	Duncan Forbes	14 April 1962	Crewe Alexandra	Gresty Road

Transfers and contracts

In

Date	Pos	Player	From	Fee	Ref
1 May 1961	DF	Brian Abrey	Chelsea	Free transfer	[11]
1 May 1961	FW	Mike Foster	Leicester City	Nominal	[12]
1 June 1961	GK	George Ramage	Third Lanark	Nominal	[13]
1 June 1961	DF	Richie Griffiths	Colchester Casuals	Free transfer	[14]
1 August 1961	DF	Mick Loughton	Apprentice	Free transfer	[15]
1 August 1961	FW	Colin Lundstrum	Ipswich Town	Free transfer	[16]
4 September 1961	DF	John Brown	Dunbar United	Nominal	[17]
4 September 1961	DF	Duncan Forbes	Musselburgh Athletic	Nominal	[18]
18 November 1961	FW	David Coleman	Harwich & Parkeston	Free transfer	[19]

Out

Date	Pos	Player	To	Fee	Ref
31 May 1961	GK	John Wright	Great Bentley	Released	[20]
31 May 1961	DF	Peter Carey	Aldershot	Released	[21]
31 May 1961	DF	Alan Eagles	Queens Park Rangers	Released	[22]
31 May 1961	DF	Cyril Hammond	Severalls	Released	[23]
31 May 1961	DF	John Laidlaw	Clacton Town	Released	[24]
31 May 1961	DF	Chic Milligan	Clacton Town	Released	[25]
31 May 1961	DF	Derek Parker	Stowmarket Town	Player-manager	[26]
31 May 1961	FW	Neil Langman	Bath City	Released	[27]
31 May 1961	FW	Tommy Williams	Watford	Released	[28]
27 January 1962	DF	Tommy Millar	Dundee United	Free transfer	[29]

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. 

Websites

• "Colchester United football club match record: 1962". 11v11.com. Retrieved 27 March 2016. 
• "Chester fixtures 1961/62". Chester-City.co.uk. Retrieved 22 April 2016. 
• "Statistics 1961/62". The Millwall History Files. Retrieved 22 April 2016. 
• "First team 1961–62 Football League : Division Four". Go Go Go County. Retrieved 22 April 2016. 

Specific