| Club: | Colchester United |
| Season: | 1958–59 |
| Chairman: | Bill Allen[1] |
| Manager: | Benny Fenton |
| Stadium: | Layer Road |
| League: | Third Division |
| League Result: | 5th |
| Cup1: | FA Cup |
| Cup1 Result: | 4th round (eliminated by Arsenal) |
| League Topscorer: | Neil Langman (20) |
| Season Topscorer: | Neil Langman (27) |
| Highest Attendance: | 16,000 v Arsenal, 24 January 1959[2] |
| Lowest Attendance: | 4,406 v Notts County, 23 February 1959[3] |
| Average Attendance: | 8,357[4] |
| Largest Win: | 8–2 v Stockport County, 4 October 1958; 7–1 v Yeovil Town, 11 December 1958 |
| Largest Loss: | 0–4 v Arsenal, 28 January 1959; 0–4 v Brentford, 21 March 1959 |
| Pattern Name1: | Home |
| Pattern La1: | _white_stripes |
| Pattern B1: | _whitestripes3 |
| Pattern Ra1: | _white_stripes |
| Pattern So1: | _3whitehoops |
| Leftarm1: | 0000FF |
| Body1: | 0000FF |
| Rightarm1: | 0000FF |
| Shorts1: | FFFFFF |
| Socks1: | 0000FF |
| Alt1: | Football kit (white jersey with blue, vertical stripes; white shorts;; and blue socks with white, horizontal hoops). |
| Prevseason: | 1957–58 |
| Nextseason: | 1959–60 |
The 1958–59 season was Colchester United's 17th season in their history and their ninth season in the third tier of English football, the newly formed national Third Division. Alongside competing in the Third Division, the club also participated in the FA Cup. Colchester reached the fourth round of the FA Cup, beating Bath City, Yeovil Town and Chesterfield on their way to meeting Arsenal. Drawn at home, Colchester held Arsenal to a 2–2 Layer Road draw, but were defeated 4–0 at Highbury in the replay. Colchester finished fifth in the Third Division, nine points shy of promotion.
In the new national Third Division, Colchester excelled against their northern counterparts, winning 21 games, more than half of which were clubs previously in the Third Division North. Colchester finished the season in fifth position, just nine points away from Hull City in second place, and ten behind champions Plymouth Argyle. They also earned a club record win when they beat Stockport County 8–2 on 4 October, and a club record away win when they beat Yeovil Town 7–1.
The club's main highlight during the campaign was their FA Cup run, their first venture outside of the first round in six seasons. Colchester defeated old Southern League rivals Bath City and Yeovil Town in the first and second rounds, before seeing off Chesterfield to set up a fourth round tie with Arsenal. For the first time local police set a limit on crowd numbers at Layer Road for the Arsenal game with 16,000 witnessing the 2–2 draw. 62,686 people watched the replay at Highbury in thick fog as the Gunners ran out 4–0 winners.
Both big-money signings from last season, Neil Langman and John Evans, helped repay their transfer fees by scoring 27 and 16 goals respectively. Meanwhile, the proceeds from the Arsenal fixture meant that floodlighting could be installed at Layer Road for the first time.[5]
| Name | Position | Nationality | Place of birth | Date of birth | Apps | Goals | Signed from | Date signed | Fee | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goalkeepers | |||||||||||
| Percy Ames | GK | Plymouth | June 1, 1958 | 139 | 0 | Tottenham Hotspur | 1 May 1955 | Free transfer | |||
| John Wright | GK | Aldershot | June 1, 1958 | 4 | 0 | Colchester Casuals | 23 May 1952 | Free transfer | |||
| Defenders | |||||||||||
| Brian Dobson | CB | Colchester | June 1, 1958 | 23 | 0 | Amateur | January 1956 | Free transfer | |||
| George Fisher | FB | Bermondsey | June 1, 1958 | 135 | 4 | Fulham | 1 September 1955 | £1,000 | |||
| John Fowler | FB | Leith | June 1, 1958 | 106 | 3 | Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic | 20 August 1955 | Free transfer | |||
| John Laidlaw | FB | Aldershot | June 1, 1958 | 0 | 0 | Easthouses Lily Miners Welfare | June 1957 | Free transfer | |||
| Alf Marshall | FB | Dagenham | June 1, 1958 | 0 | 0 | Dagenham | 14 October 1957 | £25 | |||
| Chic Milligan | CB | Ardrossan | June 1, 1958 | 62 | 1 | Ardrossan Winton Rovers | 18 August 1956 | £1,000 | |||
| John Roe | FB | Broxburn | June 1, 1958 | 0 | 0 | West Calder United | July 1958 | Free transfer | |||
| Edgar Rumney | FB | Abberton | June 1, 1958 | 5 | 0 | Colchester Casuals | 1 May 1957 | Free transfer | |||
| Midfielders | |||||||||||
| Cyril Hammond | WH | Woolwich | June 1, 1958 | 0 | 0 | Charlton Athletic | July 1958 | Free transfer | |||
| Trevor Harris | WH | Colchester | June 1, 1958 | 10 | 0 | Amateur | July 1951 | Free transfer | |||
| Ron Hunt | WH | Colchester | June 1, 1958 | 38 | 0 | Amateur | October 1951 | Free transfer | |||
| Derek Parker | WH | Wivenhoe | June 1, 1958 | 36 | 1 | West Ham United | March 1957 | £2,500 | |||
| Forwards | |||||||||||
| Russell Blake | WG | Colchester | June 1, 1958 | 15 | 2 | Dedham Old Boys | 8 September 1955 | Free transfer | |||
| John Evans | IF | Tilbury | June 1, 1958 | 24 | 7 | Liverpool | 23 November 1957 | £4,000 | |||
| Bobby Hill | IF | Edinburgh | June 1, 1958 | 54 | 8 | Easthouses Lily Miners Welfare | 9 June 1955 | Free transfer | |||
| Ian Johnstone | IF | Galashiels | June 1, 1958 | 0 | 0 | Ormiston Primrose | 18 April 1959 | Free transfer | |||
| Martyn King | CF | Birmingham | June 1, 1958 | 3 | 1 | Amateur | Summer 1955 | Free transfer | |||
| Neil Langman | CF | Bere Alston | June 1, 1958 | 23 | 8 | Plymouth Argyle | November 1957 | £6,750 | |||
| Kevin McCurley | CF | Consett | June 1, 1958 | 218 | 86 | Liverpool | June 1951 | £750 | |||
| Sammy McLeod | IF | Glasgow | June 1, 1958 | 63 | 6 | Easthouses Lily Miners Welfare | 20 August 1955 | Free transfer | |||
| Tony Miller | IF | Chelmsford | June 1, 1958 | 0 | 0 | Amateur | May 1958 | Free transfer | |||
| Ken Plant | CF | Nuneaton | June 1, 1958 | 188 | 79 | Bury | January 1954 | Undisclosed | |||
| Tommy Williams | WG | Battersea | June 1, 1958 | 52 | 8 | Carshalton Athletic | September 1956 | Free transfer | |||
| Peter Wright | WG | Colchester | June 1, 1958 | 204 | 46 | Amateur | November 1951 | Free transfer | |||
| Date | Position | Nationality | Name | From | Fee | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 1958 | IF | Tony Miller | Amateur | Free transfer | [7] | ||
| July 1958 | WH | Cyril Hammond | Charlton Athletic | Free transfer | [8] | ||
| July 1958 | FB | John Roe | West Calder United | Free transfer | [9] | ||
| 18 April 1959 | IF | Ian Johnstone | Ormiston Primrose | Free transfer | [10] |
| Date | Position | Nationality | Name | To | Fee | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| End of season | WH | Benny Fenton | Colchester United | Retired from playing, remained as manager | [11] | ||
| July 1958 | WH | Bert Hill | Dartford | Free transfer | [12] | ||
| 26 December 1958 | IF | Hamish McNeill | Cambridge City | Nominal | [13] |
See main article: 1958–59 Football League.
See main article: 1958–59 FA Cup.
| Place | Nationality | Position | Name | Third Division | FA Cup | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CF | Neil Langman | 20 | 7 | 27 | ||
| 2 | IF | John Evans | 14 | 2 | 16 | ||
| 3 | IF | Sammy McLeod | 8 | 2 | 10 | ||
| 4 | WG | Tommy Williams | 5 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 5 | WG | Russell Blake | 5 | 0 | 5 | ||
| CF | Kevin McCurley | 5 | 0 | 5 | |||
| CF | Ken Plant | 3 | 2 | 5 | |||
| WG | Peter Wright | 5 | 0 | 5 | |||
| 9 | FB | George Fisher | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| IF | Bobby Hill | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||
| CB | Chic Milligan | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||
| Own goals | 3 | 0 | 3 | ||||
| TOTALS | 71 | 14 | 85 | ||||
Number of games goalkeepers kept a clean sheet.[15]
| Place | Nationality | Player | Third Division | FA Cup | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Percy Ames | 12 | 2 | 14 | ||
| TOTALS | 12 | 2 | 14 | |||
Players making their first-team Colchester United debut in a fully competitive match.[16]
| Position | Nationality | Player | Date | Opponent | Ground | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WH | Cyril Hammond | 23 August 1958 | Bury | Layer Road | |||
| FB | Alf Marshall | 8 October 1958 | Reading | Elm Park | |||
| IF | Ian Johnstone | 18 April 1959 | Chesterfield | Layer Road |
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