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]

Name	Position	Nationality	Place of birth	Date of birth	Apps	Goals	Signed from	Date signed	Fee
Goalkeepers
Percy Ames	GK		Plymouth	(1931-12-13)13 December 1931 (aged 25)	92	0	Tottenham Hotspur	1 May 1955	Free transfer
John Wright	GK		Aldershot	(1933-08-13)13 August 1933 (aged 23)	4	0	Colchester Casuals	23 May 1952	Free transfer
Defenders
Brian Dobson	CB		Colchester	(1934-03-01)1 March 1934 (aged 23)	6	0	Amateur	January 1956	Free transfer
George Fisher	FB		Bermondsey	(1925-06-19)19 June 1925 (aged 31)	89	3	Fulham	1 September 1955	£1,000
John Fowler	FB		Leith	(1933-10-17)17 October 1933 (aged 23)	60	3	Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic	20 August 1955[a]	Free transfer
John Laidlaw	FB		Aldershot	(1936-07-05)5 July 1936 (aged 20)	0	0	Easthouses Lily Miners Welfare	June 1957	Free transfer
Alf Marshall	FB		Dagenham	(1933-05-21)21 May 1933 (aged 24)	0	0	Dagenham	14 October 1957	£25
Chic Milligan	CB		Ardrossan	(1930-07-26)26 July 1930 (aged 26)	35	1	Ardrossan Winton Rovers	18 August 1956[a]	£1,000
Edgar Rumney	FB		Abberton	(1936-09-15)15 September 1936 (aged 20)	0	0	Colchester Casuals	1 May 1957	Free transfer
Midfielders
Benny Fenton	WH		West Ham	(1918-10-10)10 October 1918 (aged 38)	83	12	Charlton Athletic	5 March 1955[a]	£500
Trevor Harris	WH		Colchester	(1936-02-06)6 February 1936 (aged 21)	3	0	Amateur	July 1951	Free transfer
Bert Hill	WH		West Ham	(1930-03-08)8 March 1930 (aged 27)	75	3	Chelsea	September 1952	£300
Ron Hunt	WH		Colchester	(1933-09-26)26 September 1933 (aged 23)	34	0	Amateur	October 1951	Free transfer
Derek Parker	WH		Wivenhoe	(1926-06-23)23 June 1926 (aged 30)	6	0	West Ham United	March 1957	£2,500
Forwards
Russell Blake	WG		Colchester	(1935-07-24)24 July 1935 (aged 21)	7	0	Dedham Old Boys	8 September 1955[a]	Free transfer
John Evans	IF		Tilbury	(1929-08-28)28 August 1929 (aged 27)	0	0	Liverpool	23 November 1957[a]	£4,000
Bobby Hill	IF		Edinburgh	(1938-06-09)9 June 1938 (aged 18)	43	8	Easthouses Lily Miners Welfare	9 June 1955	Free transfer
Martyn King	CF		Birmingham	(1937-08-23)23 August 1937 (aged 19)	3	1	Amateur	Summer 1955	Free transfer
Neil Langman	CF		Bere Alston	(1932-02-21)21 February 1932 (aged 25)	0	0	Plymouth Argyle	November 1957	£6,750
Kevin McCurley	CF		Consett	(1926-04-02)2 April 1926 (aged 31)	189	74	Liverpool	June 1951	£750
Sammy McLeod	IF		Glasgow	(1934-01-04)4 January 1934 (aged 23)	47	4	Easthouses Lily Miners Welfare	20 August 1955[a]	Free transfer
Hamish McNeill	IF		Alva	(1934-11-16)16 November 1934 (aged 22)	0	0	Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic	August 1957	£600
Ken Plant	CF		Nuneaton	(1925-08-15)15 August 1925 (aged 31)	143	60	Bury	January 1954	Undisclosed
Tommy Williams	WG		Battersea	(1935-02-10)10 February 1935 (aged 22)	23	3	Carshalton Athletic	September 1956	Free transfer
Peter Wright	WG		Colchester	(1934-01-26)26 January 1934 (aged 23)	158	30	Amateur	November 1951	Free transfer

Transfers

In

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	From	Fee	Ref.
1 May 1957	FB		Edgar Rumney	Colchester Casuals	Free transfer	[7]
June 1957	FB		John Laidlaw	Easthouses Lily Miners Welfare	Free transfer	[8]
August 1957	IF		Hamish McNeill	Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic	£600	[9]
14 October 1957	FB		Alf Marshall	Dagenham	£25	[10]
November 1957	CF		Neil Langman	Plymouth Argyle	£6,750	[11]
23 November 1957	IF		John Evans	Liverpool	£4,000	[12][a]

• Total spending: ~ £11,375

Out

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	To	Fee	Ref.
31 May 1957	WG		Les Barrell	Clacton Town	Released	[13]
June 1957	IF		Eddie Smith	Queens Park Rangers	£1,050	[14]
July 1957	CB		Reg Stewart	Hastings United	Free transfer	[15]

• Total incoming: ~ £1,050

Match details

Third Division South

Results round by round

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts	Promotion 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 4th Division
14	Crystal Palace	46	15	13	18	70	72	0.972	43

Matches

FA Cup

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

^[6][16]

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Third Division South		FA Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
	GK	ENG	Percy Ames	47	0	46	0	1	0
	DF	ENG	Brian Dobson	17	0	16	0	1	0
	DF	ENG	George Fisher	46	1	45	1	1	0
	DF	SCO	John Fowler	46	0	46	0	0	0
	DF	SCO	Chic Milligan	27	0	26	0	1	0
	DF	ENG	Edgar Rumney	5	0	5	0	0	0
	MF	ENG	Benny Fenton	23	3	23	3	0	0
	MF	ENG	Trevor Harris	7	0	7	0	0	0
	MF	ENG	Bert Hill	32	0	31	0	1	0
	MF	ENG	Ron Hunt	4	0	4	0	0	0
	MF	ENG	Derek Parker	30	1	29	1	1	0
	FW	ENG	Russell Blake	8	2	8	2	0	0
	FW	ENG	John Evans	24	7	24	7	0	0
	FW	SCO	Bobby Hill	11	0	11	0	0	0
	FW	ENG	Neil Langman	23	8	23	8	0	0
	FW	ENG	Kevin McCurley	29	12	28	12	1	0
	FW	SCO	Sammy McLeod	16	2	15	2	1	0
	FW	SCO	Hamish McNeill	2	1	2	1	0	0
	FW	ENG	Ken Plant	45	19	44	19	1	0
	FW	ENG	Tommy Williams	29	5	28	5	1	0
	FW	ENG	Peter Wright	46	16	45	16	1	0

Goalscorers

^[16]

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

Disciplinary record

^[17]

Nationality	Position	Name	Third Division South		FA Cup		Total
	WH	Benny Fenton	1	0	0	0	1	0
		TOTALS	1	0	0	0	1	0

Clean sheets

Number of games goalkeepers kept a clean sheet.^[18]

Place	Nationality	Player	Third Division South	FA Cup	Total
1		Percy Ames	7	0	7
		TOTALS	7	0	7

Player debuts

Players making their first-team Colchester United debut in a fully competitive match.^[19]

Position	Nationality	Player	Date	Opponent	Ground	Notes
FB		Edgar Rumney	2 September 1957	Queens Park Rangers	Layer Road
IF		Hamish McNeill	21 September 1957	Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic	Dean Court
IF		John Evans	23 November 1957	Port Vale	Layer Road
CF		Neil Langman	23 November 1957	Port Vale	Layer Road

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.
• White, Eric (1989). 100 Years of Brentford. Redditch: Oldfield Press. ISBN 0951526200.

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. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2016.

Specific