1995–96 Colchester United F.C. season

The 1995–96 season was Colchester United's fourth consecutive season in the fourth tier of English football. Colchester missed out on a chance to gain promotion after losing 3-2 on aggregate to Plymouth Argyle in the playoff semi-finals.

Season Review

Mark Kinsella, like Tony Adcock before him, harboured ambitions of and deserved the big time. Wignall allowed him to play on a week to week contract and re-signed the now much travelled Adcock.

Colchester's proud mantle as Cup fighters took another dent when humiliated 2-1 at non-League Gravesend & Northfleet preceding eight winless games. However, the loan signing of Scott McGleish rejuvenated United's season and a Joe Dunne injury time winner at Mansfield left U's needing to beat Doncaster in their last fixture to reach the play-offs. Paul Gibbs' cross-cum-shot sealed a narrow win to send the 5,083 crowd into delirium.

Neil Warnock's Plymouth stood in United's way of a second trip to Wembley. Mark Kinsella's long ranger sealed a 1-0 first leg lead and rammed Warnock's words down his throat. He taunted: "Little teams like Colchester shouldn't even be on the same pitch as big clubs like Plymouth." His side, assembled for over £1m, quickly moved in front at Home Park against a U's side costing £2,000, but Kinsella pulled the score back level and more with a vital away goal, but five minutes from time, U's hearts were broken when Plymouth added a third.

Squad

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

No. Position Player –– GK Garrett Caldwell –– GK Carl Emberson –– DF Simon Betts –– DF Gus Caesar –– DF Peter Cawley –– DF Jean Dalli –– DF Joe Dunne –– DF Tony English –– DF Paul Gibbs –– DF Ben Lewis –– DF Adam Locke –– DF Tony McCarthy –– MF Steve Ball

No. Position Player –– MF Robert Boyce –– MF Michael Cheetham –– MF Tony Dennis –– MF Karl Duguid –– MF Chris Fry –– MF David Gregory –– MF Nicky Haydon –– MF Mark Kinsella –– FW Tony Adcock –– FW Tony Lock –– FW Robbie Reinelt –– FW Steve Whitton

Player Info

Pos.	Name	Place of Birth	Date of Birth	Previous Club	Date Joined	Fee
GK	Garrett Caldwell	Princeton	6 November 1973	Princeton University	24 September 1995	Free
GK	Carl Emberson	Epsom	13 July 1973	Millwall	6 July 1994	£25,000
DF	Simon Betts	Middlesbrough	3 March 1973	Ipswich Town	11 December 1992	Free
DF	Gus Caesar	Tottenham	5 March 1966	Airdrieonians	11 August 1994	Free
DF	Peter Cawley	Walton-on-Thames	15 September 1965	Barnet	9 October 1992	Free
DF	Jean Dalli	Enfield	13 August 1976	Youth Team	1 August 1994	Free
DF	Joe Dunne	Dublin	25 May 1973	Gillingham	27 March 1996	Free
DF	Paul Gibbs	Gorleston	26 October 1972	Diss Town	6 March 1995	Undisclosed
DF	Ben Lewis	Chelmsford	22 June 1977	Youth Team	1 August 1994	Free
DF	Adam Locke	Croydon	20 August 1970	Southend United	23 September 1994	Free
DF	Tony McCarthy	Dublin	9 November 1969	Millwall	17 March 1995	Free
MF	Steve Ball	Colchester	2 September 1969	Cambridge United	14 September 1992	Free
MF	Robert Boyce	Islington	7 January 1974	Enfield Town	16 October 1995	Free
MF	Michael Cheetham	Amsterdam	30 June 1967	Chesterfield	23 March 1995	Free
MF	Tony Dennis	Eton	1 December 1963	Chesterfield	10 August 1994	Free
MF	Karl Duguid	Hitchin	21 March 1978	Youth Team	16 July 1995	Free
MF	Chris Fry	Cardiff	23 October 1969	Hereford United	24 October 1993	Undisclosed
MF	David Gregory	Polstead	23 January 1970	Peterborough United	7 December 1995	Free
MF	Nicky Haydon	Barking	10 August 1978	Youth Team	1 August 1995	Free
MF	Mark Kinsella	Dublin	12 August 1972	Home Farm	26 August 1989	Free
FW	Tony Adcock	Bethnal Green	27 February 1963	Luton Town	3 August 1995	Free
FW	Tony Lock	Harlow	3 September 1976	Youth Team	1 August 1994	Free
FW	Robbie Reinelt	Loughton	11 March 1974	Gillingham	22 March 1995	Free
FW	Steve Whitton	London	4 December 1960	Ipswich Town	24 March 1994	£10,000

Transfers

Transfers In

Date	Pos.	Player Name	Previous Club	Transfer Fee	Notes
16 July 1995	MF	Karl Duguid	Youth Team	Free
1 August 1995	MF	Nicky Haydon	Youth Team	Free
3 August 1995	FW	Tony Adcock	Luton Town	Free
30 August 1995	FW	Steve Mardenborough	Scarborough	Free
24 September 1995	GK	Garrett Caldwell	Princeton University	Free
16 October 1995	MF	Robert Boyce	Enfield Town	Free
7 December 1995	MF	David Gregory	Peterborough United	Free
27 March 1996	DF	Joe Dunne	Gillingham	Free

Transfers Out

Date	Pos.	Player Name	New Club	Transfer Fee	Notes
31 May 1995	GK	John Cheesewright	Wimbledon	Free
31 May 1995	DF	Tim Allpress	St Albans City	Free
31 May 1995	DF	Gary Culling	Braintree Town	Free
31 May 1995	DF	Paul Stoneman	Halifax Town	Free
31 May 1995	MF	Trevor Putney	Retired	Free
31 May 1995	FW	Leighton Allen	Gillingham	Free
31 May 1995	FW	Niall Thompson	Seattle Sounders	Free
7 December 1995	FW	Steve Mardenborough	Swansea City	Free

Loans In

Date	Pos.	Player Name	Parent Club	Date Returned	Notes
23 November 1995	DF	David Greene	Luton Town	24 February 1996
29 December 1995	FW	Paul Abrahams	Brentford	20 February 1996
23 February 1996	FW	Scott McGleish	Peterborough United	31 May 1996
8 March 1996	GK	Andy Petterson	Charlton Athletic	30 March 1996

Results

Division Three Results Summary

Pos	Club	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
6	Hereford United (PO)	46	20	14	12	65	47	+18	74
7	Colchester United (PO)	46	18	18	10	61	51	+10	72
8	Chester City	46	18	16	12	72	53	+19	70

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

Division Three Results

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
12/08/1995	Plymouth Argyle	H	2-1	3,585	Betts, Locke
19/08/1995	Barnet	A	1-1	1,966	Adcock
26/08/1995	Lincoln City	H	3-0	2,939	Dennis (2), Mardenborough
29/08/1995	Cambridge United	A	1-3	3,476	Adcock
02/09/1995	Gillingham	A	1-0	7,667	Adcock
09/09/1995	Chester City	H	1-2	3,422	Whitton
12/09/1995	Preston North End	H	2-2	2,869	Fry, Whitton
16/09/1995	Darlington	A	2-2	1,685	Dennis, Cheetham
23/09/1995	Hereford United	H	2-0	2,596	Reinelt (2)
30/09/1995	Scunthorpe United	A	0-1	2,051
07/10/1995	Hartlepool United	H	4-1	2,618	Locke (2), Adcock, Reinelt
14/10/1995	Rochdale	A	1-1	2,193	Reinelt
21/10/1995	Northampton Town	H	1-0	3,823	Kinsella
28/10/1995	Cardiff City	A	2-1	3,207	Adcock (2)
31/10/1995	Fulham	A	1-1	2,870	Mardenborough
04/11/1995	Exeter City	H	1-1	3,377	Kinsella
18/11/1995	Doncaster Rovers	A	2-3	1,603	Cheetham, Adcock
25/11/1995	Mansfield Town	H	1-3	2,819	Adcock (pen.)
09/12/1995	Hereford United	A	1-1	3,324	Betts
16/12/1995	Scunthorpe United	H	2-1	2,138	Ball, Kinsella
23/12/1995	Bury	A	0-0	3,559
26/12/1995	Leyton Orient	H	0-0	4,965
01/01/1996	Torquay United	A	3-2	2,425	Kinsella, Duguid, Betts
13/01/1996	Barnet	H	3-2	3,252	Betts (pen.), Abrahams (2)
20/01/1996	Plymouth Argyle	A	1-1	5,800	Greene
30/01/1996	Wigan Athletic	A	0-2	2,101
03/02/1996	Lincoln City	A	0-0	2,531
06/02/1996	Scarborough	H	1-1	2,299	Cawley
10/02/1996	Wigan Athletic	H	1-2	3,082	Adcock
17/02/1996	Preston North End	A	0-2	9,335
24/02/1996	Darlington	H	1-1	2,653	Adcock
27/02/1996	Chester City	A	1-1	2,001	Gibbs
02/03/1996	Leyton Orient	A	1-0	4,409	Adcock (pen.)
09/03/1996	Bury	H	1-0	2,832	Caesar
16/03/1996	Scarborough	A	0-0	1,201
19/03/1996	Cambridge United	H	2-1	2,995	Adcock, McGleish
23/03/1996	Torquay United	H	3-1	2,888	Fry, McGleish, Betts (pen.)
30/03/1996	Hartlepool United	A	1-2	1,364	Gibbs
02/04/1996	Rochdale	H	1-0	3,021	Reinelt
06/04/1996	Cardiff City	H	1-0	3,345	Kinsella
08/04/1996	Northampton Town	A	1-2	5,021	Reinelt
13/04/1996	Fulham	H	2-2	3,795	McGleish (2)
16/04/1996	Gillingham	H	1-1	4,952	McGleish
20/04/1996	Exeter City	A	2-2	2,788	Caesar, McGleish
27/04/1996	Mansfield Town	A	2-1	2,073	Reinelt, Dunne
04/05/1996	Doncaster Rovers	H	1-0	5,038	Gibbs

Source: 1995-96 Season Colchester United Results - coludata.co.uk

Play-Offs

Main article: Football League Two Play-Offs

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
12/05/1996	SF (L1)	Plymouth Argyle	H	1-0	6,511	Kinsella
15/05/1996	SF (L2)	Plymouth Argyle	A	1-3	14,525	Kinsella

Source: 1995-96 Season Colchester United Results - coludata.co.uk

League Cup

Main article: 1995–96 Football League Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
15/08/1995	R1 (L1)	Bristol City	H	2-1	2,831	Adcock, Kinsella
22/08/1995	R1 (L2)	Bristol City	A	1-2 4-5 on Pens	3,648	Cheetham

Source: 1995-96 Season Colchester United Results - coludata.co.uk

FA Cup

Main article: 1995–96 FA Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
11/11/1995	R1	Gravesend & Northfleet	A	0-2	3,128

Source: 1995-96 Season Colchester United Results - coludata.co.uk

League Trophy

Southern Section

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
26/09/1995	R1 (Group)	Torquay United	H	5-2	1,122	Adcock (3), Reinelt, Cawley
08/11/1995	R1 (Group)	Swindon Town	A	0-2	6,222
28/11/1995	R2 (S)	Oxford United	A	2-1	1,943	Adcock, Betts (pen.)
09/01/1996	R3 (S)	Peterborough United	A	2-3	2,460	Betts, Kinsella

Source: 1995-96 Season Colchester United Results - coludata.co.uk

Squad statistics

No.	Nat.	Pos.	Name	Total		Division Three		FA Cup		League Cup		League Trophy
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
––	GK		Garrett Caldwell	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
––	GK		Carl Emberson	47	0	41	0	1	0	2	0	3	0
––	GK		Andy Petterson	5	0	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
––	DF		Simon Betts	52	7	45	5	1	0	2	0	4	2
––	DF		Gus Caesar	27	2	23	2	1	0	2	0	1	0
––	DF		Peter Cawley	48	2	42	1	1	0	2	0	3	1
––	DF		Jean Dalli	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
––	DF		Joe Dunne	5	1	5	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
––	DF		Tony English	28	0	21	0	1	0	2	0	4	0
––	DF		Paul Gibbs	26	3	24	3	1	0	0	0	1	0
––	DF		David Greene	16	1	14	1	0	0	0	0	2	0
––	DF		Ben Lewis	3	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
––	DF		Adam Locke	29	3	25	3	0	0	2	0	2	0
––	DF		Tony McCarthy	51	0	44	0	1	0	2	0	4	0
––	MF		Steve Ball	10	1	8	1	0	0	0	0	2	0
––	MF		Robert Boyce	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
––	MF		Michael Cheetham	34	3	28	2	1	0	2	1	3	0
––	MF		Tony Dennis	34	3	32	3	0	0	0	0	2	0
––	MF		Karl Duguid	17	1	16	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
––	MF		Chris Fry	44	2	38	2	1	0	1	0	4	0
––	MF		David Gregory	10	0	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
––	MF		Nicky Haydon	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
––	MF		Mark Kinsella	52	7	45	5	1	0	2	1	4	1
––	FW		Paul Abrahams	9	2	8	2	0	0	0	0	1	0
––	FW		Tony Adcock	47	17	41	12	1	0	2	1	3	4
––	FW		Tony Lock	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
––	FW		Steve Mardenborough	14	2	12	2	1	0	0	0	1	0
––	FW		Scott McGleish	15	6	15	6	0	0	0	0	0	0
––	FW		Robbie Reinelt	24	8	22	7	0	0	1	0	1	1
––	FW		Steve Whitton	14	2	12	2	0	0	2	0	0	0

Scorers

All

Scorer	Goals
Tony Adcock	17
Robbie Reinelt	8
Simon Betts	7
Mark Kinsella
Scott McGleish	6
Michael Cheetham	3
Tony Dennis
Paul Gibbs
Adam Locke
Paul Abrahams	2
Gus Caesar
Peter Cawley
Chris Fry
Steve Mardenborough
Steve Whitton
Steve Ball	1
Karl Duguid
Joe Dunne
David Greene

League

Scorer	Goals
Tony Adcock	12
Robbie Reinelt	7
Scott McGleish	6
Simon Betts	5
Mark Kinsella
Tony Dennis	3
Paul Gibbs
Adam Locke
Paul Abrahams	2
Gus Caesar
Michael Cheetham
Chris Fry
Steve Mardenborough
Steve Whitton
Steve Ball	1
Peter Cawley
Karl Duguid
Joe Dunne
David Greene

FA Cup

Scorer	Goals

League Cup

Scorer	Goals
Tony Adcock	1
Michael Cheetham
Mark Kinsella

League Trophy

Scorer	Goals
Tony Adcock	4
Simon Betts	2
Peter Cawley	1
Mark Kinsella
Robbie Reinelt

Most Frequent Starting XI

This section shows players in a 4-4-2 formation with the most league starts during the season.

Pos.	Name	Apps.	Goals
GK	Carl Emberson	41	0
DF	Simon Betts	45	5
DF	Gus Caesar	23	2
DF	Peter Cawley	32	1
DF	Tony McCarthy	44	0
MF	Tony Dennis	24	3
MF	Michael Cheetham	25	2
MF	Mark Kinsella	45	5
MF	Chris Fry	35	2
FW	Tony Adcock	41	12
FW	Robbie Reinelt	12	7

200px

Emberson

Betts

Caesar

Cawley

McCarthy

Dennis

Cheetham

Kinsella

Fry

Adcock

Reinelt