1981–82 Colchester United F.C. season

Colchester United

1981–82 season
Chairman	Maurice Cadman[1]
Manager	Bobby Roberts (Until 3 May 1982) Allan Hunter (From 5 May 1982)
Fourth Division	6th
FA Cup	3rd Round
League Cup	3rd Round
Top goalscorer	League: Ian Allinson Kevin Bremner (21) All: Ian Allinson (26)
Highest home attendance	5,194 (Sheffield United)
Lowest home attendance	1,374 (Halifax Town)
Average home league attendance	2,793
Home colours
← 1980–81 1982–83 →

The 1981–82 season was Colchester United's first season back in the Football League Fourth Division since a one-year stint in the 1976–77 season.

Season review

Three points for a win helped United hit top spot in Division Four by November 1981 scoring an incredible 41 goals. The U's also reached the FA Cup Third Round, drawing with Newcastle at St James' Park before losing a thrilling 4–3 replay.

Another £25,000 brought striker John Lyons who scored on his debut as Colchester thrashed rivals Sheffield United 5–2 in front of the Match of the Day cameras. But a host of injuries and suspensions saw United free-fall down the table and manager Bobby Roberts was asked to resign in April 1982. He refused and was promptly sacked a month later. Colchester had gone from promotion certainties to sixth, 16 points off the pace despite boasting a prolific strike force in Ian Allinson (26 goals), Kevin Bremner (24) and Roy McDonough (16).^[2]

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 Mike Walker –– DF Phil Coleman –– DF Micky Cook –– DF Allan Hunter –– DF Mick Packer –– DF Wayne Ward –– DF Steve Wignall –– DF Steve Wright –– MF Ian Allinson

No. Position Player –– MF Perry Groves –– MF Steve Leslie –– MF Dennis Longhorn –– MF Roger Osborne –– FW Tony Adcock –– FW Kevin Bremner –– FW John Lyons –– FW Roy McDonough

Player information

Pos.	Name	Place of Birth	Date of Birth	Previous Club	Date Joined	Fee
GK	Mike Walker	Colwyn Bay	28 November 1945	Watford	25 August 1973	£4,000
DF	Phil Coleman	Woolwich	8 September 1960	Millwall	21 February 1981	£15,000
DF	Micky Cook	Enfield	9 April 1951	Leyton Orient	6 October 1969	Free
DF	Allan Hunter	Sion Mills	30 June 1946	Ipswich Town	5 May 1982	Free
DF	Mick Packer	Willesden	20 April 1950	Watford	25 August 1973	Free
DF	Wayne Ward	Colchester	28 April 1964	Youth Team	1 August 1981	Free
DF	Steve Wignall	Liverpool	17 September 1954	Doncaster Rovers	13 September 1977	£5,000
DF	Steve Wright	Clacton-on-Sea	16 June 1959	Youth Team	1 August 1977	Free
MF	Ian Allinson	Hitchin	1 October 1957	Youth Team	1 August 1974	Free
MF	Perry Groves	Bow	19 April 1965	Youth Team	1 August 1981	Free
MF	Steve Leslie	Hornsey	4 September 1952	Youth Team	1 August 1970	Free
MF	Dennis Longhorn	Hythe	12 September 1950	Aldershot	9 August 1980	Free
MF	Roger Osborne	Otley	9 March 1950	Ipswich Town	14 February 1981	£25,000
FW	Tony Adcock	Bethnal Green	27 March 1963	Youth Team	1 August 1980	Free
FW	Kevin Bremner	Banff	7 October 1957	Keith	11 October 1980	£25,000
FW	John Lyons	Buckley	8 November 1956	Cambridge United	6 February 1982	£25,000
FW	Roy McDonough	Solihull	16 October 1958	Chelsea	14 February 1981	£15,000

Transfers

Transfers in

Date	Pos.	Player Name	Previous Club	Transfer Fee	Notes
1 August 1981	DF	Wayne Ward	Youth Team	Free
1 August 1981	MF	Perry Groves	Youth Team	Free
6 February 1982	FW	John Lyons	Cambridge United	Free
5 May 1982	DF	Allan Hunter	Ipswich Town	Free	Player-manager

Transfers out

Date	Pos.	Player Name	New Club	Transfer Fee	Notes
12 September 1981	MF	Steve Foley	Braintree Town	Free
23 January 1982	MF	Eddie Rowles	Retired	Free
30 March 1982	MF	Russell Cotton	Chelmsford City	Free

Results

Fourth Division results summary

Pos	Club	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
5	Peterborough United	46	24	10	12	71	57	+14	82
6	Colchester United	46	20	12	14	82	57	+25	72
7	Port Vale	46	18	16	12	56	49	+7	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
29/08/1981	Hartlepool United	A	3–1	2,007	Bremner (2), Packer (pen.)
04/09/1981	Tranmere Rovers	H	4–0	2,474	Allinson (2) (pen.), Cook, Bremner
12/09/1981	Sheffield United	A	0–1	11,293
18/09/1981	Torquay United	H	3–0	2,820	Adcock (2), Cook
22/09/1981	Aldershot	H	1–1	2,719	Coleman
26/09/1981	Bradford City	A	1–2	4,772	Leslie
28/09/1981	Port Vale	A	1–2	3,351	McDonough
02/10/1981	Northampton Town	H	5–1	2,760	Coleman, Allinson (pen.), Bremner (2), McDonough
11/10/1981	Rochdale	A	1–2	1,366	Allinson, McDonough
16/10/1981	York City	H	4–0	3,139	McDonough, Bremner, Leslie, Allinson
20/10/1981	Hereford United	H	4–0	3,064	Allinson, Bremner, Osborne (2)
24/10/1981	Halifax Town	H	2–0	1,374	Allinson (pen.), McDonough
30/10/1981	Wigan Athletic	H	1–2	3,882	Coleman
02/11/1981	Mansfield Town	A	3–1	2,294	Allinson (3) (pen.)
07/11/1981	Hull City	A	3–2	3,040	Bremner, McDonough (2)
13/11/1981	Scunthorpe United	H	2–1	3,838	Allinson, Cook
28/11/1981	Darlington	A	2–1	1,456	Bremner, Osborne
04/12/1981	Blackpool	H	2–1	3,875	Allinson, Noble (o.g.)
26/12/1981	Bournemouth	A	1–1	8,829	McDonough
16/01/1982	Bury	H	1–1	3,504	Adcock
23/01/1982	Hartlepool United	H	3–3	2,862	McDonough, Bird (o.g.), Allinson (pen.)
30/01/1982	Torquay United	A	0–1	2,037
06/02/1982	Sheffield United	H	5–2	5,194	Lyons, McDonough, Allinson (2), Bremner
09/02/1982	Aldershot	A	1–1	2,324	Lyons
14/02/1982	Northampton Town	A	2–1	3,102	Allinson, Bremner
19/02/1982	Bradford City	H	1–2	3,975	Cook
26/02/1982	Rochdale	H	3–2	2,760	Bremner, Adcock (2)
02/03/1982	Tranmere Rovers	A	1–2	1,252	Bremner
05/03/1982	York City	A	0–3	1,854
10/03/1982	Hereford United	A	2–2	2,060	Allinson (pen.), Osborne
12/03/1982	Halifax Town	H	1–1	2,464	Bremner
16/03/1982	Mansfield Town	H	0–1	2,000
20/03/1982	Wigan Athletic	A	2–3	6,747	Bremner, Osborne
22/03/1982	Stockport County	A	0–0	1,740
26/03/1982	Hull City	H	2–0	2,195	Bremner, Coleman
30/03/1982	Crewe Alexandra	H	1–1	1,904	Allinson
02/04/1982	Scunthorpe United	A	1–2	1,762	Bremner
10/04/1982	Bournemouth	H	1–2	2,662	Allinson
09/04/1983	Peterborough United	A	2–2	5,402	Allinson, McDonough
17/04/1982	Blackpool	A	0–0	2,298
24/04/1982	Darlington	H	1–0	1,764	Bremner
27/04/1982	Peterborough United	H	1–1	2,212	Bremner
01/05/1982	Bury	A	3–4	1,720	Lyons, Bremner, McDonough
03/05/1982	Port Vale	H	1–0	1,470	McDonough
07/05/1982	Stockport County	H	0–1	2,132
15/05/1982	Crewe Alexandra	A	3–1	1,226	Bremner, Allinson, McDonough

Source: 1981–82 Season Colchester United Results – coludata.co.uk

League Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
01/09/1981	R1 (L1)	Gillingham	H	2–0	2,431	Bremner, Allinson (pen.)
15/09/1981	R1 (L2)	Gillingham	A	1–1	3,260	Bremner
06/10/1981	R2 (L1)	Cambridge United	H	3–1	3,844	Cook, McDonough (2)
27/10/1981	R2 (L2)	Cambridge United	A	2–3 (A.E.T.)	4,762	Allinson, Bremner
10/11/1981	R3	Tranmere Rovers	A	0–1	2,502

Source: 1981–82 Season Colchester United Results – coludata.co.uk

FA Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
21/11/1981	R1	Newport County	H	2–0	3,535	Steve Leslie, Adcock
16/12/1981	R2	Brentford	A	1–1	5,550	Allinson
30/12/1981	R2 (R)	Brentford	H	1–0	5,532	McNichol (o.g.)
04/01/1982	R3	Newcastle United	A	1–1	16,977	Wignall
18/01/1982	R3 (R)	Newcastle United	H	3–4 (A.E.T.)	7,505	Cook, Allinson (pen.) (2)

Source: 1981–82 Season Colchester United Results – coludata.co.uk

Squad statistics

^[3]

No.	Nat.	Pos.	Name	Total		Division Four		FA Cup		League Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
––	GK		Mike Walker	56	0	46	0	5	0	5	0
––	DF		Phil Coleman	47	4	37	4	5	0	5	0
––	DF		Micky Cook	56	6	46	4	5	1	5	1
––	DF		Allan Hunter	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
––	DF		Mick Packer	15	1	14	1	0	0	1	0
––	DF		Wayne Ward	5	0	5	0	0	0	0	0
––	DF		Steve Wignall	53	1	43	0	5	1	5	0
––	DF		Steve Wright	48	0	38	0	5	0	5	0
––	MF		Ian Allinson	52	26	42	21	5	3	5	2
––	MF		Russell Cotton	11	0	11	0	0	0	0	0
––	MF		Steve Foley	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
––	MF		Perry Groves	9	0	9	0	0	0	0	0
––	MF		Steve Leslie	44	3	34	2	5	1	5	0
––	MF		Dennis Longhorn	23	0	21	0	0	0	2	0
––	MF		Roger Osborne	48	5	39	5	5	0	4	0
––	MF		Eddie Rowles	12	0	6	0	5	0	1	0
––	FW		Tony Adcock	48	6	40	5	3	1	5	0
––	FW		Kevin Bremner	56	24	46	21	5	0	5	3
––	FW		John Lyons	18	3	18	3	0	0	0	0
––	FW		Roy McDonough	50	16	40	14	5	0	5	2

Scorers

^[4]

All Scorer Goals Ian Allinson 26 Kevin Bremner 24 Roy McDonough 16 Tony Adcock 6 Micky Cook Roger Osborne 5 Phil Coleman 4 Steve Leslie 3 John Lyons Mick Packer 1 Steve Wignall Own goal 3

League Scorer Goals Ian Allinson 21 Kevin Bremner Roy McDonough 14 Tony Adcock 5 Roger Osborne Phil Coleman 4 Micky Cook John Lyons 3 Steve Leslie 2 Mick Packer 1 Own goal 2

FA Cup Scorer Goals Ian Allinson 3 Tony Adcock 1 Micky Cook Steve Leslie Steve Wignall Own goal 1

League Cup Scorer Goals Kevin Bremner 3 Ian Allinson 2 Roy McDonough Micky Cook 1

Most frequent starting XI

This section shows players in a 4–3–3 formation with the most league starts during the season.

Pos. Name Apps. Goals GK Mike Walker 46 0 DF Micky Cook 46 4 DF Steve Wignall 43 0 DF Steve Wright 38 0 DF Phil Coleman 34 4 MF Ian Allinson 41 21 MF Roger Osborne 39 5 MF Steve Leslie 37 3 FW Kevin Bremner 46 21 FW Roy McDonough 40 14 FW Tony Adcock 31 5

Walker Cook Wignall Wright Coleman Allinson Osborne Leslie Bremner Adcock McDonough

References

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 7 April 2011.
3. "1981–82 Season Appearance Data". coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 7 April 2011.
4. "1981–82 Season Goalscorers Data". coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 7 April 2011.