1978–79 Colchester United F.C. season

Colchester United

1978–79 season
Chairman	Jack Rippingale[1]
Manager	Bobby Roberts
Stadium	Layer Road
Third Division	7th
FA Cup	5th round (eliminated by Manchester United)
League Cup	1st round (eliminated by Charlton Athletic)
Top goalscorer	League: Bobby Gough (16) All: Bobby Gough (22)
Highest home attendance	13,171 v Manchester United, 20 February 1979[2]
Lowest home attendance	2,311 v Chester, 12 September 1978[3]
Average home league attendance	3,921[4]
Biggest win	4–0 v Leatherhead, 19 December 1978 5–1 v Tranmere Rovers, 9 May 1979
Biggest defeat	0–4 v Carlisle United, 8 September 1978
Home colours
← 1977–78 1979–80 →

The 1978–79 season was Colchester United's 37th season in their history and second successive season in third tier of English football, the Third Division. Alongside competing in the Third Division, the club also participated in the FA Cup and the League Cup.

Colchester improved on their previous league campaign by one position, finishing in a strong seventh. The U's were eliminated in the League Cup by Charlton Athletic in the first round, but had greater success in the FA Cup. They saw off Oxford United, Leatherhead, Darlington and Newport County before facing Manchester United in the fifth round of the competition at Layer Road. Colchester held on until the 86th-minute before Jimmy Greenhoff broke the deadlock and denied the U's an Old Trafford replay.

Bobby Roberts kept the faith in his squad for their second season in the Third Division, but an injury to Eddie Rowles forced him into the transfer market. Despite Colchester suffering financial difficulty, the club spent £15,000 on Millwall forward Trevor Lee, who became the first black player to represent Colchester's first team.

A strong season in the league saw the club finish one position higher than the previous campaign in seventh, narrowly falling short of the promotion places – nine points behind third-placed Swansea City. In the final game of the season, Colchester recorded their then highest-ever away league victory with a 5–1 win at Tranmere Rovers, less than a month after they had stunned champions-elect Watford 3–0 at Vicarage Road on Good Friday.

Colchester had a productive run in the FA Cup, where they disposed of Oxford United 4–2 with Bobby Gough netting a hat-trick. They defeated non-League Leatherhead 4–0 in a replay, and overcame difficult away ties at Darlington and Newport County. In the fifth road, the U's welcomed First Division Manchester United to Layer Road. After the fixture was called off from its original Saturday date, the crowd of 13,171 saw the U's come four minutes within an Old Trafford replay after Jimmy Greenhoff finally broke the deadlock after 86-minutes to send Colchester out.^[5]

As of match played 9 May 1979.^[6]

Name	Position	Nationality	Place of birth	Date of birth	Apps	Goals	Signed from	Date signed	Fee
Goalkeepers
Ian Cranstone	GK		Rochford		0	0	Tottenham Hotspur	Summer 1977	Free transfer
Bobby Hamilton	GK				0	0	Unknown	Summer 1977
Mike Walker	GK		Colwyn Bay	(1945-11-28)28 November 1945 (aged 32)	257	0	Watford	July 1973	£4,000
Defenders
Micky Cook	FB		Enfield	(1951-04-09)9 April 1951 (aged 27)	397	14	Orient	1 March 1969	Free transfer
Steve Dowman	CB		Ilford	(1958-04-15)15 April 1958 (aged 20)	94	19	Apprentice	24 August 1976[a]	Free transfer
Mick Packer	FB		Willesden	(1950-04-20)20 April 1950 (aged 28)	219	13	Watford	July 1973	Free transfer
Steve Wignall	CB		Liverpool	(1954-09-17)17 September 1954 (aged 23)	38	2	Doncaster Rovers	September 1977	£5,000
Steve Wright	CB		Clacton-on-Sea	(1959-06-16)16 June 1959 (aged 18)	1	0	Woods Athletic	1 October 1977	Free transfer
Midfielders
Ray Bunkell	MF		Edmonton	(1949-09-18)18 September 1949 (aged 28)	137	9	Swindon Town	December 1973	Part exchange
Russell Cotton	MF		Wellington	(1960-04-04)4 April 1960 (aged 18)	2	0	Apprentice	26 October 1977	Free transfer
Paul Dyer	MF		Leicester	(1953-01-24)24 January 1953 (aged 25)	115	2	Notts County	Summer 1975	Undisclosed
Tony Evans	MF		Colchester	(1960-03-14)14 March 1960 (aged 18)	7	0	Apprentice	4 March 1978[a]	Free transfer
Steve Foley	MF		Clacton-on-Sea	(1953-06-21)21 June 1953 (aged 24)	184	36	Apprentice	July 1969	Free transfer
Steve Leslie	MF		Hornsey	(1952-09-04)4 September 1952 (aged 25)	286	40	Apprentice	20 April 1971[a]	Free transfer
Eddie Rowles	MF		Gosport	(1951-03-10)10 March 1951 (aged 27)	9	3	Darlington	26 December 1977[a]	£15,000
Forwards
Ian Allinson	WG		Hitchin	(1957-10-01)1 October 1957 (aged 20)	104	14	Apprentice	Summer 1974	Free transfer
Bobby Gough	FW		Ladywood	(1949-07-20)20 July 1949 (aged 28)	125	41	Southport	January 1976	£7,000
Gary Harvey	FW		Colchester	(1961-11-19)19 November 1961 (aged 16)	0	0	Apprentice	March 1978	Free transfer
Bobby Hodge	WG		Exeter	(1952-04-30)30 April 1952 (aged 26)	0	0	Exeter City	September 1978	£15,000
Trevor Lee	FW		Lewisham	(1954-06-03)3 June 1954 (aged 23)	0	0	Millwall	November 1978	£15,000

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	From	Fee	Ref.
12 August 1978	MF		Pat Sharkey	Mansfield Town	£10,000	[7][a]
September 1978	WG		Bobby Hodge	Exeter City	£15,000	[8]
November 1978	FW		Trevor Lee	Millwall	£15,000	[9]

• Total spending: ~ £40,000

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	To	Fee	Ref.
End of season	FB		Johnny Williams	Margate	Free transfer	[10]
31 March 1979	MF		Pat Sharkey	Peterborough United	£8,000	[7]

• Total incoming: ~ £8,000

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
5	Swindon Town	46	25	7	14	74	52	+22	57
6	Carlisle United	46	15	22	9	53	42	+11	52
7	Colchester United	46	17	17	12	60	55	+5	51
8	Hull City	46	19	11	16	66	61	+5	49
9	Exeter City	46	17	15	14	61	56	+5	49

^[6][11]

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Third Division		FA Cup		League Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
	GK	WAL	Mike Walker	55	0	46	0	7	0	2	0
	DF	ENG	Micky Cook	54	1	46	1	7	0	1	0
	DF	ENG	Steve Dowman	47	5	37+1	2	7	2	2	1
	DF	ENG	Mick Packer	49	1	40+2	1	5	0	2	0
	DF	ENG	Steve Wignall	51	4	42	4	7	0	2	0
	DF	ENG	Steve Wright	42	1	33+2	1	6+1	0	0	0
	MF	ENG	Ray Bunkell	15	1	10+2	1	2	0	1	0
	MF	ENG	Russell Cotton	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
	MF	ENG	Paul Dyer	47	2	37+3	2	5	0	2	0
	MF	ENG	Tony Evans	9	2	8+1	2	0	0	0	0
	MF	ENG	Steve Foley	42	7	34	6	6	1	2	0
	MF	ENG	Steve Leslie	4	0	3	0	0	0	1	0
	MF	ENG	Eddie Rowles	23	5	19+2	4	0	0	2	1
	FW	ENG	Ian Allinson	55	5	45+1	5	7	0	2	0
	FW	ENG	Bobby Gough	50	22	42	16	6	6	2	0
	FW	ENG	Bobby Hodge	38	4	31	3	7	1	0	0
	FW	ENG	Trevor Lee	32	12	27	11	5	1	0	0
Players who appeared for Colchester who left during the season
	MF	NIR	Pat Sharkey	8	0	5+1	0	0	0	1+1	0

^[11]

Place	Nationality	Position	Name	Third Division	FA Cup	League Cup	Total
1		FW	Bobby Gough	16	6	0	22
2		FW	Trevor Lee	11	1	0	12
3		MF	Steve Foley	6	1	0	7
4		WG	Ian Allinson	5	0	0	5
		CB	Steve Dowman	2	2	1	5
		MF	Eddie Rowles	4	0	1	5
7		WG	Bobby Hodge	3	1	0	4
		CB	Steve Wignall	4	0	0	4
9		MF	Paul Dyer	2	0	0	2
		MF	Tony Evans	2	0	0	2
11		MF	Ray Bunkell	1	0	0	1
		FB	Micky Cook	1	0	0	1
		FB	Mick Packer	1	0	0	1
		CB	Steve Wright	1	0	0	1
			Own goals	1	0	0	1
			TOTALS	60	11	2	73

^[12]

Nationality	Position	Name	Third Division		FA Cup		League Cup		Total
	FB	Mick Packer	3	1	0	0	0	0	3	1
	MF	Paul Dyer	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	CB	Steve Wignall	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
		TOTALS	5	1	0	0	0	0	5	1

Number of games goalkeepers kept a clean sheet.^[13]

Place	Nationality	Player	Third Division	FA Cup	League Cup	Total
1		Mike Walker	12	4	1	17
		TOTALS	12	4	1	17

Players making their first-team Colchester United debut in a fully competitive match.^[14]

Position	Nationality	Player	Date	Opponent	Ground	Notes
MF		Pat Sharkey	12 August 1978	Charlton Athletic	Layer Road
WG		Bobby Hodge	27 September 1978	Exeter City	St James Park
FW		Trevor Lee	3 November 1978	Plymouth Argyle	Layer Road

• List of Colchester United F.C. seasons

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: 1979". 11v11.com. Retrieved 24 April 2018.