1993–94 Colchester United F.C. season

Colchester United

1993–94 season
Chairman	Gordon Parker[1]
Manager	Roy McDonough (Until 15 May 1994)
Division Three	17th
FA Cup	1st Round
Rumbelows Cup	1st Round
Auto Windscreens Shield	3rd Round
Top goalscorer	League: Steve Brown (11) All: Steve Brown (13)
Highest home attendance	3,932 (Wycombe Wanderers)
Lowest home attendance	2,316 (Carlisle United)
Average home league attendance	2,865
Home colours
← 1992–93 1994–95 →

The 1993–94 season was Colchester United's second consecutive season in the fourth tier of English football.

Season Review

The first eight games of 1993/4 yielded 40 goals - 18 in the wrong net. United just could not defend and Roy McDonough, having used six goalkeepers in the wake of Scott Barrett's departure, found himself in goal at Hereford in October 1993. Amazingly both John Keeley and sub Nathan Munson were sent off for professional fouls. Needless to say U's lost 5-0.

Fans fury continued unabated as United fought back manfully to 3-3 at home to non-League Sutton in the FA Cup, only to concede searching for an injury time winner.

Things got worse. United used six keepers again and Steve McGavin moved to Birmingham for £150,000 in January with no funds made available. It took a consortium of local businessmen to raise £10,000 to buy Steve Whitton on deadline day to fill the gap.

On the last day of a disappointing campaign, where gates had dropped to 2,865, McDonough received a silver salver from Chairman Parker in recognition of his 500th career appearance. Three days later it was Parker, his father-in-law, that told McDonough he was sacked.^[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 Taylor Barada –– GK John Cheesewright –– DF Tim Allpress –– DF Simon Betts –– DF Peter Cawley –– DF Tony English –– DF Christian Hyslop –– DF Andy Partner –– MF Steve Ball –– MF Sean Campbell –– MF Tony Cook

No. Position Player –– MF Alan Dickens –– MF Chris Fry –– MF Mark Kinsella –– MF Nicky Smith –– FW Paul Abrahams –– FW Justin Booty –– FW Steve Brown –– FW Justin Gentle –– FW Roy McDonough –– FW Steve Whitton

Player Info

Pos.	Name	Place of Birth	Date of Birth	Previous Club	Date Joined	Fee
GK	Taylor Barada	Charlottesville	14 August 1972	Notts County	30 April 1994	Free
GK	John Cheesewright	Romford	12 January 1973	Dagenham & Redbridge	13 January 1994	Free
DF	Tim Allpress	Hitchin	27 January 1971	Preston North End	16 August 1993	Free
DF	Simon Betts	Middlesbrough	3 March 1973	Ipswich Town	11 December 1992	Free
DF	Peter Cawley	Walton-on-Thames	15 September 1965	Barnet	9 October 1992	Free
DF	Tony English	Luton	19 October 1966	Coventry City	1 January 1985	Free
DF	Christian Hyslop	Watford	14 June 1972	Southend United	19 February 1994	Free
DF	Andy Partner	Colchester	21 October 1974	Youth Team	1 August 1991	Free
MF	Steve Ball	Colchester	2 September 1969	Cambridge United	14 September 1992	Free
MF	Sean Campbell	Bristol	31 December 1974	Youth Team	1 August 1993	Free
MF	Tony Cook	Hemel Hempstead	17 September 1976	Youth Team	1 August 1993	Free
MF	Alan Dickens	London	3 September 1964	Chelsea	4 September 1993	Free
MF	Chris Fry	Cardiff	23 October 1969	Hereford United	24 October 1993	Undisclosed
MF	Mark Kinsella	Dublin	12 August 1972	Home Farm	26 August 1989	Free
MF	Nicky Smith	Berkeley	28 January 1969	Southend United	18 August 1990	Free
FW	Paul Abrahams	Colchester	31 October 1973	Youth Team	1 August 1991	Free
FW	Justin Booty	Colchester	2 June 1976	Youth Team	1 August 1993	Free
FW	Steve Brown	Southend-on-Sea	6 December 1973	Scunthorpe United	27 August 1993	Free
FW	Justin Gentle	England	6 June 1974	Luton Town	30 April 1994	Free
FW	Roy McDonough	Solihull	16 October 1958	Southend United	13 October 1990	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
8 May 1993	GK	Nathan Munson	Youth Team	Free
1 August 1993	MF	Sean Campbell	Youth Team	Free
1 August 1993	MF	Tony Cook	Youth Team	Free
1 August 1993	FW	Justin Booty	Youth Team	Free
14 August 1993	GK	John Keeley	Oldham Athletic	Free
16 August 1993	DF	Tim Allpress	Preston North End	Free
27 August 1993	FW	Steve Brown	Scunthorpe United	Free
4 September 1993	MF	Alan Dickens	Chelsea	Free
25 September 1993	FW	John Richardson	Chesham United	Free
24 October 1993	MF	Chris Fry	Hereford United	Undisclosed
13 January 1994	GK	John Cheesewright	Dagenham & Redbridge	Free
19 February 1994	DF	Christian Hyslop	Southend United	Free
24 March 1994	FW	Steve Whitton	Ipswich Town	£10,000
30 April 1994	GK	Taylor Barada	Notts County	Free
30 April 1994	FW	Justin Gentle	Luton Town	Free

Transfers Out

Date	Pos.	Player Name	New Club	Transfer Fee	Notes
31 May 1993	DF	Paul Flowers	Grays Athletic	Free
31 May 1993	MF	Robert Hopkins	Solihull Borough	Free
14 August 1993	MF	Jason Cook	Dagenham & Redbridge	Free
18 August 1993	FW	Grant Morrow	Boston United	Free
31 August 1993	FW	Julian Hazel	Braintree Town	Free
11 September 1993	FW	Gary Bennett	Woking	Free
28 September 1993	DF	Martin Grainger	Brentford	£60,000
20 November 1993	GK	John Keeley	Chelmsford City	Free
11 December 1993	GK	Nathan Munson	Billericay Town	Free
11 December 1993	FW	John Richardson	Chesham United	Free
3 January 1994	DF	Paul Roberts	Chesham United	Free
7 January 1994	FW	Steve McGavin	Birmingham City	£150,000

Loans In

Date	Pos.	Player Name	Parent Club	Date Returned	Notes
8 October 1993	DF	Adam Locke	Southend United	2 November 1993
30 October 1993	GK	Mike Desborough	Chelmsford City	30 October 1993
18 November 1993	DF	Michael Basham	West Ham United	20 November 1993
23 December 1993	GK	Jon Sheffield	Cambridge United	22 January 1994
11 January 1994	FW	Grant Watts	Crystal Palace	4 April 1994
22 March 1994	DF	Ian Brown	Bristol City	6 April 1994

Results

Division Three Results Summary

Pos	Club	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
16	Gillingham	42	12	15	15	44	51	-7	51
17	Colchester United	42	13	10	19	56	71	-15	49
18	Lincoln City	42	12	11	19	52	63	-11	47

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
14/08/1993	Lincoln City	H	1-0	3,198	Kinsella
21/08/1993	Crewe Alexandra	A	1-2	2,700	Ball
28/08/1993	Northampton Town	H	3-2	2,874	Grainger (pen.), English, Kinsella
31/08/1993	Shrewsbury Town	H	3-3	2,723	McGavin (2), S.Brown
04/09/1993	Torquay United	A	3-3	2,989	S.Brown, McGavin, Curran (o.g.)
11/09/1993	Rochdale	H	2-5	2,776	McDonough, S.Brown
18/09/1993	Wycombe Wanderers	A	5-2	8,025	Kinsella, McGavin, McDonough, Grainger, S.Brown
25/09/1993	Bury	H	4-1	2,702	S.Brown (3), McGavin
02/10/1993	Preston North End	A	0-1	6,412
09/10/1993	Scunthorpe United	H	2-1	3,405	Kinsella, S.Brown
16/10/1993	Hereford United	A	0-5	1,848
23/10/1993	Wigan Athletic	H	3-1	2,814	McDonough (2), Kinsella
30/10/1993	Gillingham	A	0-3	3,964
02/11/1993	Darlington	A	3-7	1,299	Dickens, McGavin, Kinsella
06/11/1993	Walsall	H	0-1	2,736
20/11/1993	Doncaster Rovers	A	1-2	2,034	McGavin
27/11/1993	Carlisle United	H	2-1	2,316	English (2)
11/12/1993	Crewe Alexandra	H	2-4	2,647	English, S.Brown
27/12/1993	Mansfield Town	H	0-0	3,478
28/12/1993	Scarborough	A	2-0	1,226	McDonough, McGavin
01/01/1994	Chester City	H	0-0	3,170
03/01/1994	Shrewsbury Town	A	1-2	4,245	Ball
15/01/1994	Hereford United	H	1-0	2,439	Dickens
22/01/1994	Scunthorpe United	A	1-1	2,854	Cawley
29/01/1994	Gillingham	H	1-2	3,436	Watts
05/02/1994	Wigan Athletic	A	1-0	1,695	Dickens
12/02/1994	Chesterfield	H	0-2	2,783
19/02/1994	Northampton Town	A	1-1	3,185	McDonough
25/02/1994	Torquay United	H	1-2	2,573	Betts
05/03/1994	Rochdale	A	1-1	2,202	Watts
12/03/1994	Wycombe Wanderers	H	0-2	3,932
15/03/1994	Lincoln City	A	0-2	1,631
19/03/1994	Bury	A	1-0	2,108	McDonough
26/03/1994	Preston North End	H	1-1	2,950	I.Brown
29/03/1994	Chesterfield	A	0-0	3,089
02/04/1994	Mansfield Town	A	1-1	2,117	Gray (o.g.)
04/04/1994	Scarborough	H	1-2	2,501	Meyer (o.g.)
09/04/1994	Chester City	A	1-2	3,394	S.Brown
16/04/1994	Darlington	H	1-2	2,337	Kinsella
23/04/1994	Walsall	A	2-1	2,980	Watkiss (o.g.), Kinsella
30/04/1994	Doncaster Rovers	H	3-1	2,378	Whitton (2), S.Brown
07/05/1994	Carlisle United	A	0-2	9,305

Source: 1993-94 Season Colchester United Results - coludata.co.uk

League Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
17/08/1993	R1 (L1)	Fulham	A	1-2	2,820	Kinsella
24/08/1993	R1 (L2)	Fulham	H	1-2	3,360	McDonough

Source: 1993-94 Season Colchester United Results - coludata.co.uk

FA Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
13/11/1993	R1	Sutton United	H	3-4	3,051	McGavin, S.Brown, English

Source: 1993-94 Season Colchester United Results - coludata.co.uk

League Trophy

Southern Section

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
28/09/1993	R1 (Group)	Gillingham	A	0-0	1,091
19/10/1993	R1 (Group)	Cambridge United	H	2-2	1,489	Kinsella, S.Brown
04/12/1993	R2 (S)	Wrexham	A	1-0	1,860	McDonough
11/01/1994	R3 (S)	Wycombe Wanderers	H	0-1	2,751

Source: 1993-94 Season Colchester United Results - coludata.co.uk

Squad statistics

^[3]

No.	Nat.	Pos.	Name	Total		Division Three		FA Cup		League Cup		League Trophy
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
––	GK		Taylor Barada	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
––	GK		John Cheesewright	18	0	17	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
––	GK		Mike Desborough	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
––	GK		John Keeley	20	0	15	0	1	0	2	0	2	0
––	GK		Nathan Munson	4	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
––	GK		Jon Sheffield	6	0	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
––	DF		Tim Allpress	27	0	23	0	0	0	2	0	2	0
––	DF		Michael Basham	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
––	DF		Simon Betts	38	1	33	1	1	0	1	0	3	0
––	DF		Peter Cawley	41	1	36	1	1	0	0	0	4	0
––	DF		Tony English	49	5	42	4	1	1	2	0	4	0
––	DF		Martin Grainger	11	2	8	2	0	0	2	0	1	0
––	DF		Christian Hyslop	8	0	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
––	DF		Adam Locke	5	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
––	DF		Andy Partner	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
––	DF		Paul Roberts	26	0	21	0	1	0	2	0	2	0
––	MF		Steve Ball	38	2	32	2	0	0	2	0	4	0
––	MF		Sean Campbell	5	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
––	MF		Jason Cook	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
––	MF		Tony Cook	3	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
––	MF		Alan Dickens	36	3	32	3	1	0	0	0	3	0
––	MF		Chris Fry	17	0	17	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
––	MF		Mark Kinsella	48	10	42	8	1	0	2	1	3	1
––	MF		Nicky Smith	44	0	39	0	1	0	2	0	2	0
––	FW		Paul Abrahams	6	0	4	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
––	FW		Gary Bennett	6	0	4	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
––	FW		Justin Booty	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
––	FW		Ian Brown	4	1	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
––	FW		Steve Brown	38	13	34	11	1	1	0	0	3	1
––	FW		Justin Gentle	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
––	FW		Roy McDonough	45	9	38	7	1	0	2	1	4	1
––	FW		Steve McGavin	27	9	21	8	1	1	2	0	3	0
––	FW		Grant Morrow	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
––	FW		John Richardson	10	0	8	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
––	FW		Grant Watts	13	2	12	2	0	0	0	0	1	0
––	FW		Steve Whitton	8	2	8	2	0	0	0	0	0	0

Scorers

^[4]

All Scorer Goals Steve Brown 13 Mark Kinsella 10 Roy McDonough 9 Steve McGavin Tony English 5 Alan Dickens 3 Steve Ball 2 Martin Grainger Grant Watts Steve Whitton Simon Betts 1 Ian Brown Peter Cawley Own goal 4

League Scorer Goals Steve Brown 11 Mark Kinsella 8 Steve McGavin Roy McDonough 7 Tony English 4 Alan Dickens 3 Steve Ball 2 Martin Grainger Grant Watts Steve Whitton Simon Betts 1 Ian Brown Peter Cawley Own goal 4

FA Cup Scorer Goals Steve Brown 1 Tony English Steve McGavin

League Cup Scorer Goals Mark Kinsella 1 Roy McDonough

League Trophy Scorer Goals Steve Brown 1 Mark Kinsella Roy McDonough

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 John Cheesewright 17 0 DF Simon Betts 31 1 DF Tim Allpress 21 0 DF Peter Cawley 36 1 DF Tony English 42 4 MF Nicky Smith 29 0 MF Alan Dickens 28 3 MF Mark Kinsella 42 8 MF Steve Ball 27 2 FW Roy McDonough 36 7 FW Steve Brown 30 11

Cheesewright Betts Allpress Cawley English Smith Dickens Kinsella Ball McDonough S.Brown

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 90s". Colchester United F.C. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
3. "1993–94 Season Appearance Data". coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
4. "1993–94 Season Goalscorers Data". coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 31 March 2011.