2005–06 Colchester United F.C. season

Colchester United

2005–06 season
Chairman	Peter Heard[1]
Manager	Phil Parkinson (Until 14 June 2006)
League One	2nd (Promoted)
FA Cup	5th Round
League Cup	1st Round
Football League Trophy	Finals (Southern section)
Top goalscorer	League: Chris Iwelumo (17) All: Chris Iwelumo (19)
Highest home attendance	5,920 (Southend United)
Lowest home attendance	2,721 (Barnsley)
Average home league attendance	3,969
Home colours
← 2004–05 2006–07 →

The 2005–06 season was Colchester United's eighth consecutive season in the third tier of English football. The season ended in success with Colchester's first ever promotion into the second tier of English football when they finished 2nd in League One. In addition, they had good cup runs in the FA Cup, being knocked out by then Premier League champions Chelsea in the 5th round, and finished as area finalists in the LDV Vans Trophy.

Season Review

The season kick started with the arrival of Phil Parkinson's old Reading team-mate Jamie Cureton on loan from Swindon.

U's were in the top four by Christmas and their 12-match unbeaten run was halted at Swindon on Boxing Day. Parkinson's side simply embarked on another run of seven straight wins, 10 if Cup ties are included, and topped the table in January 2006. Once again United reached the LDV Southern Area Final but losing to Swansea City. The FA Cup brought more success on and off the pitch. Poor Leamington were thrashed 9-1 in the First Round on 5 December 2005, equalling a 44 year club record. U's won at Shrewsbury and then beat Championship sides Sheffield United and Derby to set up a mouth watering tie at Chelsea.

José Mourinho's side had been assembled for around £225m whilst United were valued at £150,000. More than 6,000 fans in the 41,810 live televised game witnessed the incredible, as Carvalho's own goal put United in front. Chelsea threw on their big guns Joe Cole, Frank Lampard and Hernán Crespo to win 3-1. United captured a little piece of worldwide acclaim and a huge bonus to their bank balance, but league form dropped alarmingly. U's won just one in 13, including Cup ties, went seven out of eight League games in February without scoring and lost the top of the table clash with Southend by 3-0 at Layer Road.

Wins at Bournemouth and at home to Rotherham meant United only had to secure a draw in the last match at Yeovil. Ironically United's first ever professional match in 1937 was in the Somerset town and they nervously held onto a 0-0 draw to gain promotion to their promised land - The Coca Cola Championship - three points behind their Essex neighbours Southend. The average gate of 3,969 was paltry compared to some of the sides that they would face but Parkinson had delivered U's ultimate dream.^[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 1 GK Aidan Davison 2 DF Greg Halford 3 DF Stephen Hunt 4 MF Neil Danns 5 DF Wayne Brown 6 MF Kevin Watson 7 MF Karl Duguid 8 FW Gareth Williams 9 FW Marino Keith 10 MF Kemal Izzet 11 FW Chris Iwelumo 12 DF Pat Baldwin

No. Position Player 13 GK Dean Gerken 15 FW Jamie Guy 16 DF George Elokobi 17 DF John White 18 DF Liam Chilvers 19 DF Garry Richards 21 MF Robbie King 23 GK Mark Cousins 25 DF Sam Stockley 26 FW Tony Thorpe 28 MF Richard Garcia

Player Info

No.	Name	Place of Birth	Date of Birth	Previous Club	Date Joined	Fee
1	Aidan Davison	Sedgefield	11 May 1968	Grimsby Town	5 July 2004	Free
2	Greg Halford	Chelmsford	8 December 1984	Youth Team	1 August 2002	Free
3	Stephen Hunt	Southampton	11 November 1984	Southampton	5 July 2004	Free
4	Neil Danns	Liverpool	23 November 1982	Blackburn Rovers	23 December 2004	Undisclosed
5	Wayne Brown	Barking	20 August 1977	Watford	8 July 2004	Free
6	Kevin Watson	Hackney	3 January 1974	Reading	5 July 2004	Free
7	Karl Duguid	Hitchin	21 March 1978	Youth Team	16 July 1995	Free
8	Gareth Williams	Johannesburg	10 September 1982	Crystal Palace	31 August 2004	Free
9	Marino Keith	Peterhead	16 December 1974	Plymouth Argyle	1 March 2005	Free
10	Kemal Izzet	Whitechapel	29 September 1980	Charlton Athletic	13 April 2001	Free
11	Chris Iwelumo	Coatbridge	1 August 1978	Alemannia Aachen	6 July 2005	Free
12	Pat Baldwin	London	12 November 1982	Chelsea	31 August 2002	Free
13	Dean Gerken	Southend-on-Sea	22 May 1985	Youth Team	1 August 2002	Free
15	Jamie Guy	Barking	1 August 1987	Youth Team	1 July 2004	Free
16	George Elokobi	Mogadishu	31 January 1986	Dulwich Hamlet	1 August 2004	Free
17	John White	Colchester	26 July 1986	Youth Team	1 July 2003	Free
18	Liam Chilvers	Chelmsford	6 November 1981	Arsenal	10 June 2004	Free
19	Garry Richards	Romford	11 June 1986	Youth Team	1 July 2004	Free
21	Robbie King	Chelmsford	1 October 1986	Youth Team	3 September 2005	Free
23	Mark Cousins	Chelmsford	9 January 1987	Youth Team	1 July 2004	Free
25	Sam Stockley	Tiverton	5 September 1977	Oxford United	31 October 2002	Free
26	Tony Thorpe	Leicester	10 April 1974	Swindon Town	11 January 2006	Free
28	Richard Garcia	Perth	4 September 1981	West Ham United	3 September 2004	Undisclosed

Transfers

Transfers In

Date	Pos.	Player Name	Previous Club	League	Transfer Fee	Notes
6 July 2005	FW	Chris Iwelumo	Alemannia Aachen	Fußball-Bundesliga	Free
1 August 2005	DF	Dean Howell	Halifax Town	Conference National	Free
3 September 2005	MF	Robbie King	Youth Team	N/A	Free
11 January 2006	FW	Tony Thorpe	Swindon Town	Football League One	Free

Transfers Out

Date	Pos.	Player Name	New Club	League	Transfer Fee	Notes
10 May 2005	DF	Ben Bowditch	Barnet	Football League Two	Free
31 May 2005	MF	Ross Crouch	Released	N/A	Free
6 June 2005	DF	Gavin Johnson	Boston United	Football League Two	Free
24 June 2005	DF	Joe Keith	Leyton Orient	Football League Two	Free
18 July 2005	MF	Bobby Bowry	Gravesend & Northfleet	Conference National	Free
5 August 2005	FW	Guylain Ndumbu-Nsungu	Darlington	Football League Two	Free
8 August 2005	FW	Jamie Cade	Crawley Town	Conference National	Free
17 February 2006	DF	Dean Howell	Halifax Town	Conference National	Free

Loans In

Date	Pos.	Player Name	Parent Club	League	Date Returned	Notes
5 August 2005	MF	Mark Yeates	Tottenham Hotspur	Premier League	7 May 2006
21 October 2005	FW	Jamie Cureton	Swindon Town	Football League One	3 January 2006
17 March 2006	FW	Scott Vernon	Blackpool	Football League One	7 May 2006
22 March 2006	FW	Billy Clarke	Ipswich Town	Football League Championship	7 May 2006
23 March 2006	MF	Jamal Campbell-Ryce	Rotherham United	Football League One	7 May 2006

Loans Out

Date	Pos.	Player Name	New Club	League	Date Returned	Notes
6 October 2005	FW	Jamie Guy	Gravesend & Northfleet	Conference National	6 November 2005
9 February 2006	FW	Jamie Guy	Cambridge United	Conference National	30 April 2006
19 February 2006	MF	Robbie King	Hereford United	Conference National	7 May 2006
17 March 2006	DF	Sam Stockley	Blackpool	Football League One	7 May 2006
17 March 2006	FW	Gareth Williams	Blackpool	Football League One	7 May 2006

Results

League One Results Summary

Pos	Club	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Southend United (C)	46	23	13	10	72	43	+29	82
2	Colchester United (P)	46	22	13	11	58	40	+18	79
3	Barnsley (PO)	46	20	16	10	72	52	+20	76

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

League One Results Round by Round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42	43	44	45	46
Ground	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A
Result	L	L	W	D	D	L	D	W	W	D	D	L	W	L	D	W	W	W	W	W	D	W	L	W	W	W	W	W	W	W	L	D	L	L	L	W	D	D	D	L	W	D	W	W	W	D
Position	15	23	18	18	18	22	20	15	13	15	15	16	13	15	16	13	11	8	7	6	6	4	6	5	4	4	2	1	2	1	2	2	3	5	6	5	5	4	4	4	3	3	2	2	2	2

Source:
Ground: A = Away; H = Home. Result: D = Draw; L = Loss; W = Win; P = Postponed.

League One Results

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
06/08/2005	Gillingham	A	1-2	7,293	Danns
09/08/2005	Swansea City	H	1-2	2,950	Halford
13/08/2005	Barnsley	H	1-0	2,721	Iwelumo
20/08/2005	MK Dons	A	1-1	4,423	Chilvers
27/08/2005	Oldham Athletic	H	0-0	2,742
29/08/2005	Southend United	A	1-3	7,344	Stockley
03/09/2005	Bristol City	A	0-0	10,180
10/09/2005	Doncaster Rovers	H	3-2	2,721	Iwelumo, McDaid (o.g.), Foster (o.g.)
17/09/2005	Port Vale	A	1-0	5,166	Iwelumo
24/09/2005	Huddersfield Town	H	1-1	3,415	Elokobi
27/09/2005	Bradford City	A	1-1	6,891	Halford
01/10/2005	Chesterfield	H	1-2	3,414	Iwelumo
09/10/2005	Blackpool	A	2-1	4,793	Halford (2)
15/10/2005	Bournemouth	H	0-1	3,120
22/10/2005	Tranmere Rovers	A	0-0	6,612
29/10/2005	Yeovil Town	H	3-2	3,409	Iwelumo (2), Cureton
12/11/2005	Rotherham United	A	2-1	3,715	Barker (o.g.), Iwelumo
19/11/2005	Blackpool	H	3-2	3,031	Iwelumo (2), Halford
26/11/2005	Gillingham	H	5-0	3,801	Halford (2), Cureton (2), Brown
06/12/2005	Hartlepool United	A	1-0	3,375	Cureton
10/12/2005	Swansea City	A	1-1	13,230	Iwelumo
17/12/2005	MK Dons	H	2-0	3,400	Danns, Iwelumo (pen.)
26/12/2005	Swindon Town	A	0-1	5,531
31/12/2005	Brentford	A	2-0	6,397	Yeates (2)
02/01/2006	Nottingham Forest	H	3-1	5,767	Danns, Yeates, Garcia
14/01/2006	Walsall	A	2-0	5,464	Danns, Iwelumo
17/01/2006	Bristol City	H	3-2	4,022	Williams, Danns (2)
21/01/2006	Port Vale	H	2-1	4,316	Garcia (2)
04/02/2006	Bradford City	H	3-1	4,503	Garcia (2), Iwelumo
07/02/2006	Scunthorpe United	H	1-0	4,416	Iwelumo
11/02/2006	Huddersfield Town	A	0-2	13,515
14/02/2006	Walsall	H	0-0	3,810
25/02/2006	Barnsley	A	0-1	9,411
04/03/2006	Southend United	H	0-3	5,920
11/03/2006	Oldham Athletic	A	0-1	5,822
18/03/2006	Swindon Town	H	1-0	3,767	Iwelumo (pen.)
21/03/2006	Doncaster Rovers	A	0-0	4,262
25/03/2006	Scunthorpe United	A	0-0	4,608
01/04/2006	Brentford	H	1-1	5,635	Iwelumo
08/04/2006	Nottingham Forest	A	0-1	22,680
11/04/2006	Hartlepool United	H	2-0	3,916	Danns (2)
15/04/2006	Chesterfield	A	2-2	3,649	Yeates, Iwelumo
17/04/2006	Tranmere Rovers	H	1-0	4,757	Brown
22/04/2006	Bournemouth	A	2-1	6,231	Chilvers, Vernon
29/04/2006	Rotherham United	H	2-0	5,741	Barker (o.g.), Yeates
06/05/2006	Yeovil Town	A	0-0	8,785

League Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
24/08/2005	R1	Cardiff City	H	0-2	1,904

FA Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
05/11/2005	R1	Leamington	H	9-1	3,513	Halford, Brown, Iwelumo, Cureton (2), Watson, Yeates, Danns (2)
03/12/2005	R2	Shrewsbury Town	A	2-1	3,695	Cureton, Iwelumo
07/01/2006	R3	Sheffield United	A	2-1	11,820	Danns, Williams
28/01/2006	R4	Derby County	H	3-1	5,933	Danns (2), Garcia
19/02/2006	R5	Chelsea	A	1-3	41,810	Carvalho (o.g.)

League Trophy

Southern Section

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
23/11/2005	R2 (S)	Northampton Town	H	3-2 (aet)	1,719	Elokobi, Garcia, Danns
20/12/2005	Area QF	MK Dons	A	2-1	2,649	Duguid, Danns
24/01/2006	Area SF	Cheltenham Town	A	1-0	2,243	Garcia
07/03/2006	Area F (L1)	Swansea City	A	0-1	7,285
14/03/2006	Area F (L2)	Swansea City	H	1-2	3,236	Danns

Squad statistics

^[3]

No.	Nat.	Pos.	Name	Total		League One		FA Cup		League Cup		League Trophy
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK		Aidan Davison	45	0	41	0	4	0	0	0	0	0
2	DF		Greg Halford	55	8	45	7	5	1	1	0	3+1	0
3	DF		Stephen Hunt	2	0	0+2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	MF		Neil Danns	51	16	38+3	8	4+1	5	1	0	3+1	3
5	DF		Wayne Brown	45	3	38	2	4	1	1	0	2	0
6	MF		Kevin Watson	52	1	43+1	0	4	1	1	0	2+1	0
7	MF		Karl Duguid	45	1	26+9	0	4+1	0	0	0	5	1
8	FW		Gareth Williams	28	2	6+12	1	0+4	1	0+1	0	4+1	0
9	FW		Marino Keith	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
10	MF		Kemal Izzet	41	0	19+14	0	2+1	0	1	0	3+1	0
11	FW		Chris Iwelumo	55	19	46	17	5	2	1	0	2+1	0
12	DF		Pat Baldwin	34	0	20+5	0	3	0	1	0	4+1	0
13	GK		Dean Gerken	14	0	5+2	0	1	0	1	0	5	0
14	MF		Mark Yeates	52	6	42+2	5	5	1	1	0	1+1	0
15	FW		Jamie Guy	6	0	0+2	0	0	0	0	0	1+3	0
16	DF		George Elokobi	17	2	10+2	1	0	0	0+1	0	4	1
17	DF		John White	41	0	32+3	0	4	0	0	0	1+1	0
18	DF		Liam Chilvers	40	2	33+1	2	2+1	0	1	0	2	0
19	DF		Garry Richards	19	0	12+3	0	1	0	0	0	3	0
20	FW		Scott Vernon	7	1	4+3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
21	MF		Robbie King	5	0	0+3	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
23	GK		Mark Cousins	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
24	MF		Jamal Campbell-Ryce	4	0	1+3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
25	DF		Sam Stockley	35	1	21+6	1	2+1	0	1	0	4	0
26	FW		Tony Thorpe	14	0	5+9	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
28	MF		Richard Garcia	31	8	9+13	5	3+2	1	0	0	4	2
31	FW		Billy Clarke	6	0	2+4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Players who appeared for Colchester who left during the season
20	DF		Dean Howell	5	0	1+3	0	0	0	0+1	0	0	0
24	FW		Jamie Cureton	10	7	7+1	4	2	3	0	0	0	0

Scorers

^[4]

All Scorer Goals Chris Iwelumo 19 Neil Danns 16 Richard Garcia 8 Greg Halford Jamie Cureton 7 Mark Yeates 6 Wayne Brown 3 Liam Chilvers 2 George Elokobi Gareth Williams Karl Duguid 1 Sam Stockley Scott Vernon Kevin Watson Own goal 5

League Scorer Goals Chris Iwelumo 17 Neil Danns 8 Greg Halford 7 Richard Garcia 5 Mark Yeates Jamie Cureton 4 Wayne Brown 2 Liam Chilvers George Elokobi 1 Sam Stockley Scott Vernon Gareth Williams Own goal 4

FA Cup Scorer Goals Neil Danns 5 Jamie Cureton 3 Chris Iwelumo 2 Wayne Brown 1 Richard Garcia Greg Halford Kevin Watson Gareth Williams Mark Yeates Own goal 1

League Cup Scorer Goals

League Trophy Scorer Goals Neil Danns 3 Richard Garcia 2 Karl Duguid 1 George Elokobi

Assists

^[5]

Assistant	League	Cup	Total
Karl Duguid	7	1	8
Greg Halford	6		7
Kevin Watson	5	2
Mark Yeates		1	6
Chris Iwelumo	3	0	3
Richard Garcia	2		2
Wayne Brown	1	1
Gareth Williams
Billy Clarke		0	1
Jamie Cureton
Neil Danns
Garry Richards
Scott Vernon
John White
Sam Stockley	0	1

Disciplinary record

^[6]

Pos.	Name	League		Cups		Total
DF	Pat Baldwin	2	0	0	0	2	0
DF	Wayne Brown	4	1	0	0	4	1
MF	Jamal Campbell-Ryce	1	0	0	0	1	0
DF	Liam Chilvers	7	0	1	0	8	0
FW	Billy Clarke	2	0	0	0	2	0
MF	Neil Danns	6	0	2	0	8	0
MF	Karl Duguid	4	0	0	0	4	0
DF	George Elokobi	3	0	0	0	3	0
MF	Richard Garcia	1	0	0	0	1	0
DF	Greg Halford	5	0	1	0	6	0
FW	Chris Iwelumo	3	0	0	0	3	0
MF	Kemal Izzet	3	1	0	0	3	1
DF	Garry Richards	2	1	0	0	2	1
DF	Sam Stockley	2	0	2	0	4	0
FW	Tony Thorpe	1	0	0	0	1	0
MF	Kevin Watson	3	0	0	0	3	0
DF	John White	2	0	0	0	2	0
MF	Mark Yeates	7	0	1	0	8	0

Most Frequent Starting XI

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

No. Pos. Name Apps. Goals 1 GK Aidan Davison 41 0 25 DF Sam Stockley 21 1 5 DF Wayne Brown 38 2 17 DF John White 32 0 18 DF Liam Chilvers 33 2 2 MF Greg Halford 45 7 7 MF Karl Duguid 26 0 14 MF Mark Yeates 42 5 6 MF Kevin Watson 43 0 4 MF Neil Danns 38 8 11 FW Chris Iwelumo 46 17

Davison Stockley Brown Baldwin Chilvers Halford Yeates Watson Duguid Danns Iwelumo

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 00s". Colchester United F.C. Retrieved 1 April 2011.
3. "2005–06 Season Appearance Data". Colchester United F.C. Retrieved 1 April 2011.
4. "2005–06 Season Goalscorers Data". coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 1 April 2011.
5. "2005–06 Season Assists Data". Colchester United F.C. Retrieved 1 April 2011.
6. "2005–06 Season Discipline Data". Colchester United F.C. Retrieved 1 April 2011.