1985–86 Colchester United F.C. season

Colchester United
1985–86 season
Chairman	Jonathan Crisp
Manager	Cyril Lea; (Until 10 April 1986); Mike Walker; (From 10 April 1986)
Fourth Division	6th
FA Cup	1st Round
Milk Cup	1st Round
Freight Rover Trophy	1st Round (Southern section)
Top goalscorer	League: ; Tony Adcock (15); All: ; Tony Adcock (16)
Highest home attendance	3,927 (Exeter City)
Lowest home attendance	1,356 (Crewe Alexandra)
Average home league attendance	2,368
	Home colours
	Home colours
	← 1984–85 1986–87 →

The 1985–86 season was Colchester United's fifth consecutive season in the Football League Fourth Division.

Season Review

With the Heysel disaster following on the heels of Bradford City stadium fire, Layer Road faced £500,000 worth of safety improvements. With no money, the club closed areas of Layer Road reducing capacity to 4,900.

Manager Cyril Lea continued the policy of recruiting ex-Ipswich players. Topping the table in October 1985, the U's imploded, suffering six successive League defeats, four without scoring, and were knocked out of the FA Cup by non-League Wycombe. Lea could not find a strike partner for Tony Adcock following Keith Bowen's career-ending car crash. The manager had a good record and produced a free-scoring side but could not get the club over the promotion finishing line and three weeks from the end of the season he was sacked.

Former goalkeeper Mike Walker, coach of U's reserves, took over as Caretaker and United were unbeaten in the remaining eight matches - winning five. Walker had hoisted U's to seventh just nine points short of promotion.

It was a notable season for hat tricks with Perry Groves twice achieving the feat against Southend and brothers Tommy and Tony English scoring trebles within five days of each other. The English brothers were both sent off at Crewe in a game which United won 2-0.^[2]

Squad

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


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
––	GK	ENG	Alec Chamberlain
––	DF	ENG	Terry Baker
––	DF	ENG	Keith Day
––	DF	ENG	Tony English
––	DF	ENG	Kirk Game
––	DF	ENG	Rudi Hedman
––	DF	SCO	Ian Phillips
––	MF	ENG	Simon Burman


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
––	MF	ENG	Andy Farrell
––	MF	ENG	Perry Groves
––	MF	ENG	Roger Osborne
––	MF	ENG	John Reeves
––	FW	ENG	Tony Adcock
––	FW	ENG	Tommy English
––	FW	ENG	Mick Ferguson
––	FW	ENG	Robin Turner

Player Info

Pos.	Name	Place of Birth	Date of Birth	Previous Club	Date Joined	Fee
GK	Alec Chamberlain	March	20 June 1964	Ipswich Town	3 January 1983	Free
DF	Terry Baker	Rochford	13 November 1965	Billericay Town	11 January 1986	Free
DF	Keith Day	Grays	29 November 1962	Aveley	25 August 1984	Free
DF	Tony English	Luton	19 October 1966	Coventry City	1 January 1985	Free
DF	Kirk Game	Rochford	22 October 1966	Southend United	8 November 1985	Free
DF	Rudi Hedman	Lambeth	16 November 1964	Youth Team	1 August 1983	Free
DF	Ian Phillips	Cumnock	23 April 1959	Northampton Town	9 September 1983	Free
MF	Simon Burman	Ipswich	26 November 1965	Youth Team	1 August 1984	Free
MF	Andy Farrell	Colchester	7 October 1965	Youth Team	1 August 1983	Free
MF	Perry Groves	Bow	19 April 1965	Youth Team	1 August 1981	Free
MF	Roger Osborne	Otley	9 March 1950	Ipswich Town	14 February 1981	£25,000
MF	John Reeves	Hackney	8 July 1963	Fulham	17 August 1985	Free
FW	Tony Adcock	Bethnal Green	27 March 1963	Youth Team	1 August 1980	Free
FW	Tommy English	Cirencester	18 October 1961	Canberra City	8 November 1985	Free
FW	Mick Ferguson	Newcastle upon Tyne	3 October 1954	Brighton & Hove Albion	31 March 1986	Free
FW	Robin Turner	Carlisle	10 September 1955	Swansea City	20 December 1985	Free

Transfers

Transfers In

Date	Pos.	Player Name	Previous Club	Transfer Fee	Notes
17 August 1985	MF	John Reeves	Fulham	Free
8 November 1985	DF	Kirk Game	Southend United	Free
8 November 1985	FW	Tommy English	Canberra City	Free
23 November 1985	FW	Trevor Whymark	Diss Town	Free
20 December 1985	FW	Robin Turner	Swansea City	Free
11 January 1986	DF	Terry Baker	Billericay Town	Free
11 January 1986	FW	Mick Ferguson	Brighton & Hove Albion	Free

Transfers Out

Date	Pos.	Player Name	New Club	Transfer Fee	Notes
26 October 1985	FW	Keith Bowen	Retired	Free
6 November 1985	MF	Jeff Hull	Retired	Free
13 December 1985	FW	Trevor Whymark	Retired	Free
31 January 1986	FW	Russell Irving	Sudbury Town	Free
31 March 1986	MF	Noel Parkinson	Retired	Free
8 April 1986	DF	Stewart Houston	Retired	Free

Loans In

Date	Pos.	Player Name	Parent Club	Date Returned	Notes
8 November 1985	FW	Robin Turner	Swansea City	14 December 1985

Results

Fourth Division Results Summary

Pos	Club	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
5	Leyton Orient	46	20	12	14	79	64	+15	72
6	Colchester United	46	19	13	14	88	63	+25	70
7	Hartlepool United	46	20	10	16	68	67	+1	70

Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

Fourth Division Results

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
17/08/1985	Stockport County	H	3-1	1,719	Osborne, Day, Adcock
24/08/1985	Wrexham	A	1-2	2,296	Reeves
27/08/1985	Aldershot	H	4-0	1,928	Tony English, Adcock, Groves, Hedman
31/08/1985	Torquay United	A	1-2	1,023	Adcock
06/09/1985	Halifax Town	H	3-1	2,023	Adcock (2), Bowen
14/09/1985	Tranmere Rovers	A	4-3	1,362	Tony English, Groves, Parkinson, Day
17/09/1985	Cambridge United	H	4-1	2,574	Adcock (3), Groves
21/09/1985	Leyton Orient	H	2-1	2,577	Parkinson, Bowen
27/09/1985	Port Vale	H	1-0	3,110	Bowen
01/10/1985	Burnley	A	2-0	3,375	Adcock, Bowen
04/10/1985	Exeter City	H	1-1	3,927	Day
12/10/1985	Mansfield Town	A	1-2	3,364	Tony English
18/10/1985	Scunthorpe United	H	1-1	3,462	Reeves
22/10/1985	Southend United	A	4-2	8,120	Bowen, Groves (3)
26/10/1985	Northampton Town	H	0-2	2,872
02/11/1985	Hereford United	H	0-2	3,081
06/11/1985	Chester City	A	0-4	2,809
08/11/1985	Rochdale	H	0-1	2,624
23/11/1985	Preston North End	A	2-3	2,793	Parkinson (pen.), Adcock
14/12/1985	Hartlepool United	A	1-4	2,507	Hedman
20/12/1985	Wrexham	H	5-2	1,683	Comstive (o.g.), Adcock (2), Groves, Hedman
28/12/1985	Aldershot	A	1-1	1,757	Day
01/01/1986	Swindon Town	A	1-2	8.802	Parkinson
03/01/1986	Hereford United	H	4-1	2,214	Parkinson (2), Tommy English, Phillips
11/01/1986	Torquay United	H	0-0	2,063
17/01/1986	Stockport County	A	1-1	2,336	Groves
24/01/1986	Tranmere Rovers	H	1-2	2,013	Parkinson
31/01/1986	Halifax Town	A	2-2	989	Baker, Adcock
04/02/1986	Southend United	H	2-0	1,915	Adcock, Clark (o.g.)
01/03/1986	Port Vale	A	1-1	2,726	Groves
08/03/1986	Exeter City	A	2-2	1,520	Adcock, Burman
14/03/1986	Mansfield Town	H	0-0	1,956
22/03/1986	Northampton Town	A	0-1	2,035
25/03/1986	Crewe Alexandra	H	1-2	1,356	Tony English
28/03/1986	Swindon Town	H	1-1	2,997	Tony English
31/03/1986	Peterborough United	A	2-1	2,316	Tony English, Baker
04/04/1986	Chester City	H	2-3	2,281	Tommy English (2) (pen.)
08/04/1986	Leyton Orient	H	4-0	1,771	Ferguson, Day, Phillips, Tony English
12/04/1986	Rochdale	A	3-3	1,182	Ferguson, Farrell, Tommy English (pen)
15/04/1986	Scunthorpe United	A	1-1	1,238	Ferguson
18/04/1986	Preston North End	H	4-0	2,046	Tommy English (3) (pen.), Ferguson
22/04/1986	Peterborough United	H	5-0	1,863	Reeves, Tommy English, Tony English (3)
26/04/1986	Crewe Alexandra	A	2-0	1,555	Groves (2)
29/04/1986	Cambridge United	A	3-1	3,115	Reeves, Ferguson (2)
02/05/1986	Hartlepool United	H	3-1	2,410	Ferguson, Tommy English, Tony English
06/05/1986	Burnley	H	1-1	2,726	Groves, Tommy English

Source: 1985-86 Season Colchester United Results - coludata.co.uk

League Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
21/08/1985	R1 (L1)	Millwall	H	2-3	––	Bowen (2)
02/09/1985	R1 (L2)	Millwall	A	1-4	3,330	Bowen (pen.)

Source: 1985-86 Season Colchester United Results - coludata.co.uk

FA Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
16/11/1985	R1	Wycombe Wanderers	A	0-2	3,089

Source: 1985-86 Season Colchester United Results - coludata.co.uk

League Trophy

Southern Section

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
25/11/1986	R1 (Group)	Southend United	H	4-1	1,364	Groves (3), Adcock
21/01/1986	R1 (Group)	Northampton Town	A	1-2	1,958	Baker

Source: 1985-86 Season Colchester United Results - coludata.co.uk

Squad statistics

^[3]

No.	Nat.	Pos.	Name	Total		Division Four		FA Cup		League Cup		League Trophy
No.	Nat.	Pos.	Name	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
––	GK	ENG	Alec Chamberlain	51	0	46	0	1	0	2	0	2	0
––	DF	ENG	Terry Baker	23	3	21	2	0	0	0	0	2	1
––	DF	ENG	Keith Day	32	5	30	5	0	0	2	0	0	0
––	DF	ENG	Tony English	50	11	45	11	1	0	2	0	2	0
––	DF	ENG	Kirk Game	6	0	4	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
––	DF	ENG	Rudi Hedman	44	3	39	3	1	0	2	0	2	0
––	DF	SCO	Stewart Houston	41	0	36	0	1	0	2	0	2	0
––	DF	SCO	Ian Phillips	41	2	37	2	0	0	2	0	2	0
––	MF	ENG	Simon Burman	11	1	11	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
––	MF	ENG	Andy Farrell	25	1	24	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
––	MF	ENG	Perry Groves	47	15	43	12	1	0	1	0	2	3
––	MF	ENG	Jeff Hull	5	0	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
––	MF	ENG	Roger Osborne	38	1	34	1	0	0	2	0	2	0
––	MF	ENG	Noel Parkinson	40	7	35	7	1	0	2	0	2	0
––	MF	ENG	John Reeves	27	4	24	4	1	0	2	0	0	0
––	FW	ENG	Tony Adcock	38	16	33	15	1	0	2	0	2	1
––	FW	WAL	Keith Bowen	17	8	15	5	0	0	2	3	0	0
––	FW	ENG	Tommy English	24	10	23	10	0	0	0	0	1	0
––	FW	ENG	Mick Ferguson	10	7	10	7	0	0	0	0	0	0
––	FW	ENG	Russell Irving	10	0	9	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
––	FW	ENG	Robin Turner	14	0	11	0	1	0	0	0	2	0
––	FW	ENG	Trevor Whymark	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Scorers

^[4]

All

Scorer	Goals
Tony Adcock	16
Perry Groves	15
Tony English	11
Tommy English	10
Keith Bowen	8
Mick Ferguson	7
Noel Parkinson	7
Keith Day	5
John Reeves	4
Terry Baker	3
Rudi Hedman	3
Ian Phillips	2
Simon Burman	1
Andy Farrell
Roger Osborne
Own goal	2

League

Scorer	Goals
Tony Adcock	15
Perry Groves	12
Tony English	11
Tommy English	10
Mick Ferguson	7
Noel Parkinson	7
Keith Bowen	5
Keith Day	5
John Reeves	4
Rudi Hedman	3
Terry Baker	2
Ian Phillips	2
Simon Burman	1
Andy Farrell
Roger Osborne
Own goal	2

FA Cup

Scorer	Goals

League Cup

Scorer	Goals
Keith Bowen	3

League Trophy

Scorer	Goals
Perry Groves	3
Tony Adcock	1
Terry Baker	1

Most Frequent Starting XI

This section shows players in a 5-4-1 formation with the most league starts during the season.

Pos.	Name	Apps.	Goals
GK	Alec Chamberlain	46	0
DF	Ian Phillips	37	2
DF	Rudi Hedman	38	3
DF	Tony English	45	11
DF	Stewart Houston	36	0
DF	Keith Day	30	5
MF	Perry Groves	42	12
MF	Noel Parkinson	35	7
MF	Roger Osborne	28	1
MF	Andy Farrell	24	1
FW	Tony Adcock	33	15

Chamberlain

Phillips

Hedman

Tony English

Houston

Day

Groves

Parkinson

Osborne

Farrell

Adcock

References

^ Whitehead, Jeff; Drury, Kevin (2008). The Who's Who of Colchester United: The Layer Road Years. Derby: Breedon Books. p. 279. ISBN 978-1-85983-629-3.
^ "The U's History: The 80s". Colchester United F.C. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
^ "1985–86 Season Appearance Data". coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
^ "1985–86 Season Goalscorers Data". coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 4 April 2011.

[WWCU-1] Whitehead, Jeff; Drury, Kevin (2008). The Who's Who of Colchester United: The Layer Road Years. Derby: Breedon Books. p. 279. ISBN 978-1-85983-629-3.

[2] "The U's History: The 80s". Colchester United F.C. Retrieved 4 April 2011.

[3] "1985–86 Season Appearance Data". coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 4 April 2011.

[4] "1985–86 Season Goalscorers Data". coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 4 April 2011.

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