1987–88_Colchester_United_F.C._season

Colchester United
1987–88 season
Chairman	Jonathan Crisp
Manager	Mike Walker; (until 1 November); Steve Foley (caretaker); (1 November until 6 November); Roger Brown; (from 6 November)
Stadium	Layer Road
Fourth Division	9th
FA Cup	3rd round; (eliminated by; Plymouth Argyle)
League Cup	1st round; (eliminated by; Fulham)
Associate Members' Cup	Quarter-finals (southern section); (eliminated by; Notts County)
Top goalscorer	League: ; Dale Tempest (11); All: ; Dale Tempest (14)
Highest home attendance	3,215; v Tamworth, 14 November 1987
Lowest home attendance	912; v Peterborough United, 13 October 1987
Average home league attendance	1,776
Biggest win	4–1; v Peterborough United, 12 September 1987; v Rochdale, 3 November 1987; 3–0; v Bolton Wanderers, 11 December 1987
Biggest defeat	0–4; v Carlisle United, 23 April 1988; v Bolton Wanderers, 2 May 1988
	Home colours
	Home colours
	← 1986–87 1988–89 →

1987–88 Colchester United F.C. season

Colchester United 1987–88 football season

The 1987–88 season was Colchester United's 46th season in their history and seventh consecutive season in fourth tier of English football, the Fourth Division. Alongside competing in the Fourth Division, the club also participated in the FA Cup, the League Cup and the Associate Members' Cup.

Quick Facts Chairman, Manager ...

After a promising start to the season under Mike Walker, a disagreement between him and chairman Jonathan Crisp saw Walker leave Layer Road and in his place Roger Brown was recruited. From joint top of the table, Brown's side won just five games in the second half of the season to finish the season ninth.

Colchester reached the third round of the FA Cup, beating Tamworth and Hereford United before elimination by Plymouth Argyle. In the Associate Members' Cup, Colchester reached the southern section quarter-final, where they were defeated 3–2 by Notts County. The club were less successful in the League Cup as they fell to a 5–1 aggregate defeat to Fulham.

Season overview

Keen to improve on last years play-off disappointment, manager Mike Walker recruited former U's boss Allan Hunter as his coach.

Club regulars Tony Adcock and Alec Chamberlain both left the club during the summer of 1987 in big money moves. Adcock signed for Second Division Manchester City for £75,000, while Chamberlain joined First Division Everton for £80,000 as understudy to Neville Southall. Walker then broke the club transfer record to bring in striker Dale Tempest for £40,000.

Chairman Jonathan Crisp announced that, in light of worsening football hooliganism across the nation, a 100% members-only scheme would be in place for the new season, banning away fans from attending matches at Layer Road. To deflect any negative attention, he also leaked details regarding a new stadium at Turner Rise while introducing developers Norcross Estates as shirt sponsors.

Owing to the new scheme, only 1,300 members attended the first fixture of the season, a drop of 1,400 on last seasons average attendance. A new record low crowd was set on 29 September when just 1,140 watched the 2–1 win over Swansea City.

Having rebuilt his side and winning seven out of eight games, Walker was abruptly sacked by Crisp while the U's were joint-top of the Fourth Division table. Crisp had claimed that Walker had resigned, but alleged personal differences were said to have been the cause. Bizarrely, Walker won the Manager of the Month award after he had been sacked.

Incoming as new manage was Roger Brown, formerly manager of Poole Town while working as a factory manager. He had been recommended to Crisp by his advisors, but he took the U's from top spot on New Year's Day to ninth at the end of the season after earning just five wins from January until May.

Crisp had to concede his membership scheme in November after hundreds of Wolverhampton Wanderers fans registered as members to boost the Layer Road attendance to an unusually high figure of 2,413 for that season. Crisp claimed the scheme had only been an experiment, and this was reflected in the season average of just 1,776.

Following on from his Turner Rise leaked plans, Crisp considered selling Layer Road and ground sharing Portman Road with Ipswich Town while the new stadium was built. His decision however was swayed by a group of former club directors. By selling up, Crisp would have recouped his outlay, but when the stadium plans were delayed over land ownership, Colchester United would have been left completely homeless with no assets except for the players.^[5]

Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article 1987–88_Colchester_United_F.C._season, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[TDG-7] Date of signing refers to the date of the player's first game in his third spell for the club

[DG-8] Date of signing refers to the date of the player's first game for the club

[SDG-9] Date of signing refers to the date of the player's first game in his second spell for the club

[DG-13] Date of signing refers to the date of the player's first game for the club

[TDG-20] Date of signing refers to the date of the player's first game in his third spell for the club

[FG-32] Date of departure refers to the date of the player's final game for the club

[Loanend-40] Loan end date refers to the date of the player's final game for the club

[Loanend1-41] Loan end date refers to the date of the player's final game in his first spell for the club

[Loan2-42] Loan start and end dates refer to the date of the player's first and final games in his second spell for the club

[Loan-46] Loan start and end dates refer to the date of the player's first and final games for the club

[2deb-53] Second debut for the club

[55] Third debut for the club

[WWCU-1] [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] [2]
"Colchester Utd 3–0 Tamworth". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[3] [3]
"Colchester Utd 3–2 Peterborough United". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[4] [4]
"Average Attendance Figures Per Season". Coludaybyday.co.uk. Archived from the original on 26 June 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[5] [5]
Hudson, Matt (11 July 2012). "The 1970s and 1980s". Colchester United FC. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[apps-6] [6]
"Appearances". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 25 July 2018.

[Ray-10] [7]
"John Ray". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[11] [8]
"Mario Walsh". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[Lake-12] [9]
"Trevor Lake (Goalkeeper)". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[14] [10]
"Dale Tempest". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[15] [11]
"Gary Smith". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[16] [12]
"Colin Hill". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[17] [13]
"Tommy Keane". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[18] [14]
"Keith Williams". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[Walton-19] [15]
"Mark Walton (Goalkeeper)". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[21] [16]
"Steve Hetzke". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[22] [17]
"Stuart Hicks". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[23] [18]
"Scott Daniels". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[24] [19]
"Lee Hunter". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[25] [20]
"Ian Phillips". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[26] [21]
"Simon Burman". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[27] [22]
"Alec Chamberlain (Goalkeeper)". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[28] [23]
"Andy Farrell". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[29] [24]
"Kirk Game". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[30] [25]
"Tony Adcock". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[31] [26]
"Keith Day". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[33] [27]
"Sean Norman". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[34] [28]
"Simon Lowe". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[Young-35] [29]
"Scott Young". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[36] [30]
"Terry Baker". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[37] [31]
"Paul Hinshelwood". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[38] [32]
"John Reeves". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[39] [33]
"Graham Benstead (Goalkeeper)". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[43] [34]
"Darren Angell". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[David_H_Coleman-44] [35]
"David H Coleman". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[45] [36]
"Glenn Keeley". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[47] [37]
"Sean Farrell". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

[goals-48] [38]
"Goals". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 23 July 2018.

[49] [39]
"Discipline". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 24 July 2018.

[50] [40]
"Clean sheets (1st team)". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 24 July 2018.

[51] [41]
"Alltime- List of Debuts". Coludaybyday.co.uk. Archived from the original on 26 June 2015. Retrieved 24 July 2018.

[52] [42]
"Colchester Utd 3–0 Tamworth". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 24 July 2018.

[54] [43]
"Exeter City 0–2 Colchester Utd". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 24 July 2018.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[lower-alpha 1]

[lower-alpha 2]

[lower-alpha 3]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[lower-alpha 1]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[lower-alpha 2]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20]

[21]

[22]

[23]

[24]

[25]

[26]

[lower-alpha 1]

[27]

[28]

[29]

[30]

[31]

[32]

[33]

[lower-alpha 1]

[lower-alpha 2]

[lower-alpha 3]

[34]

[35]

[36]

[lower-alpha 4]

[37]

[38]

[39]

[40]

[41]

[42]

[lower-alpha 1]

[43]

[lower-alpha 2]

Name	Position	Place of birth	Date of birth	Apps	Goals	Signed from	Date signed	Fee
Goalkeepers
Mark Walton	GK	Merthyr Tydfil	(1969-06-01)1 June 1969 (aged 18)	8	0	Luton Town	26 December 1987^{[lower-alpha 1]}	£17,500
Defenders
Scott Daniels	CB	South Benfleet	(1969-11-22)22 November 1969 (aged 17)	0	0	Apprentice	23 April 1988^{[lower-alpha 2]}	Free transfer
Tony English	DF/MF	Luton	(1966-10-19)19 October 1966 (aged 20)	115	21	Coventry City	24 December 1984	Free transfer
Stephen Grenfell	FB	Enfield Town	(1966-10-27)27 October 1966 (aged 20)	30	2	Tottenham Hotspur	28 November 1986^{[lower-alpha 3]}	£15,000
Rudi Hedman	CB	Lambeth	(1964-11-16)16 November 1964 (aged 22)	138	10	Apprentice	February 1984	Free transfer
Steve Hetzke	CB	Marlborough	(1955-06-03)3 June 1955 (aged 31)	0	0	Chester City	March 1988	£10,000
Stuart Hicks	CB	Peterborough	(1967-05-30)30 May 1967 (aged 20)	0	0	Wisbech Town	March 1988	Free transfer
Colin Hill	CB	Uxbridge	(1963-11-12)12 November 1963 (aged 23)	0	0	Marítimo	30 October 1987^{[lower-alpha 2]}	Undisclosed
John Ray	CB	Newmarket	(1968-11-21)21 November 1968 (aged 18)	0	0	Apprentice	Summer 1987	Free transfer
Midfielders
Nick Chatterton	MF	West Norwood	(1954-05-18)18 May 1954 (aged 33)	22	1	Millwall	September 1986	Undisclosed
Mark Radford	MF	Leicester	(1968-12-20)20 December 1968 (aged 18)	1	0	Apprentice	26 January 1987^{[lower-alpha 2]}	Free transfer
Gary Smith	MF	Harlow	(1968-12-03)3 December 1968 (aged 18)	0	0	Fulham	September 1987	Non-contract
Richard Wilkins	MF/DF	Lambeth	(1965-05-28)28 May 1965 (aged 22)	30	4	Haverhill Rovers	18 November 1986^{[lower-alpha 2]}	Undisclosed
Keith Williams	MF	Burntwood	(1967-04-12)12 April 1967 (aged 20)	0	0	Bath City	December 1987	Free transfer
Forwards
Lee Hunter	WG	Oldham	(1969-10-05)5 October 1969 (aged 17)	0	0	Apprentice	6 May 1988^{[lower-alpha 2]}	Free transfer
Tommy Keane	WG	Galway	(1968-09-16)16 September 1968 (aged 18)	0	0	AFC Bournemouth	December 1987	£10,000
Dale Tempest	FW	Leeds	(1963-12-30)30 December 1963 (aged 23)	0	0	Lokeren	28 August 1987^{[lower-alpha 2]}	£40,000
Mario Walsh	FW	Paddington	(1966-01-19)19 January 1966 (aged 21)	0	0	Torquay United	Summer 1987	£15,000
Winston White	WG	Leicester	(1958-10-26)26 October 1958 (aged 28)	16	1	Bury	February 1987	Free transfer

Date	Position	Name	From	Fee	Ref.
Summer 1987	CB	John Ray	Apprentice	Free transfer	^[7]
Summer 1987	FW	Mario Walsh	Torquay United	£15,000	^[8]
18 August 1987	GK	Trevor Lake	West Ham United	Undisclosed	^[9]^{[lower-alpha 1]}
28 August 1987	FW	Dale Tempest	Lokeren	£40,000	^[10]^{[lower-alpha 1]}
September 1987	MF	Gary Smith	Fulham	Non-contract	^[11]
30 October 1987	CB	Colin Hill	Marítimo	Undisclosed	^[12]^{[lower-alpha 1]}
December 1987	WG	Tommy Keane	AFC Bournemouth	£10,000	^[13]
December 1987	MF	Keith Williams	Bath City	Free transfer	^[14]
26 December 1987	GK	Mark Walton	Luton Town	£17,500	^[15]^{[lower-alpha 2]}
March 1988	CB	Steve Hetzke	Chester City	£10,000	^[16]
March 1988	CB	Stuart Hicks	Wisbech Town	Free transfer	^[17]
23 April 1988	CB	Scott Daniels	Apprentice	Free transfer	^[18]^{[lower-alpha 1]}
6 May 1988	WG	Lee Hunter	Apprentice	Free transfer	^[19]^{[lower-alpha 1]}

Date	Position	Name	To	Fee	Ref.
End of season	FB	Ian Phillips	Aldershot	Undisclosed	^[20]
End of season	WG/MF	Simon Burman	Weymouth	Undisclosed	^[21]
Summer 1987	GK	Alec Chamberlain	Everton	£80,000	^[22]
Summer 1987	MF/FB	Andy Farrell	Burnley	£5,000	^[23]
Summer 1987	CB	Kirk Game	Dartford	Released	^[24]
June 1987	FW	Tony Adcock	Manchester City	£75,000	^[25]
July 1987	CB	Keith Day	Leyton Orient	Undisclosed	^[26]
18 August 1987	GK	Trevor Lake	Free agent	Retired	^[9]^{[lower-alpha 1]}
13 October 1987	MF	Sean Norman	Wycombe Wanderers	Undisclosed	^[27]^{[lower-alpha 1]}
5 December 1987	FW	Simon Lowe	Scarborough	Undisclosed	^[28]^{[lower-alpha 1]}
Early 1988	FB	Scott Young	Wycombe Wanderers	£5,000	^[29]
2 January 1988	FB	Terry Baker	Billericay Town	Released	^[30]^{[lower-alpha 1]}
15 April 1988	FB	Paul Hinshelwood	Dartford	Undisclosed	^[31]^{[lower-alpha 1]}
2 May 1988	MF	John Reeves	Enfield	Released	^[32]^{[lower-alpha 1]}

Date	Position	Name	From	End date	Ref.
Summer 1987	GK	Graham Benstead	Norwich City	24 November 1987	^[33]^{[lower-alpha 1]}
August 1987	GK	Mark Walton	Luton Town	13 October 1987	^[15]^{[lower-alpha 2]}
14 November 1987	GK	Mark Walton	Luton Town	18 December 1987	^[15]^{[lower-alpha 3]}
December 1987	CB	Darren Angell	Portsmouth	18 December 1987	^[34]^{[lower-alpha 1]}
February 1988	GK	Craig Forrest	Ipswich Town	29 April 1988	^[35]^{[lower-alpha 1]}
February 1988	CB	Glenn Keeley	Oldham Athletic	26 February 1988	^[36]^{[lower-alpha 1]}
19 February 1988	FB	David Coleman	AFC Bournemouth	19 March 1988	^[35]^{[lower-alpha 4]}
25 March 1988	FW	Sean Farrell	Luton Town	6 May 1988	^[37]^{[lower-alpha 4]}

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	To	End date	Ref.
	CB		John Ray	Wycombe Wanderers		^[7]
	FB		Scott Young	Wycombe Wanderers		^[29]

1987–88_Colchester_United_F.C._season

1987–88 Colchester United F.C. season

Season overview

Players

Transfers

In

Out

Loans in

Loans out

Match details

Fourth Division

Results round by round

League table

Matches

League Cup

Associate Members' Cup

FA Cup

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

Goalscorers

Disciplinary record

Clean sheets

Player debuts

See also

References

General

Specific

Share this article:

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	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H
Result	W	L	D	L	D	W	L	L	L	W	W	D	W	W	W	W	W	W	L	D	W	W	W	W	L	L	D	L	L	L	L	D	W	L	D	L	D	W	L	W	D	W	L	W	L	D
Position	2	5	9	16	15	9	14	19	19	18	17	13	15	12	9	3	5	1	5	2	2	1	1	1	2	3	2	4	4	6	7	10	8	9	12	12	11	11	13	10	12	8	10	7	10	9

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
7	Peterborough United	46	20	10	16	52	53	−1	70
8	Leyton Orient	46	19	12	15	85	63	+22	69
9	Colchester United	46	19	10	17	47	51	−4	67
10	Burnley	46	20	7	19	57	62	−5	67
11	Wrexham	46	20	6	20	69	58	+11	66

15 August 1987 (1987-08-15) 1	Burnley	0–3	Colchester United	Burnley
		Report	Walsh 25' English 27' Lowe 75'	Stadium: Turf Moor Attendance: 5,369 Referee: J Penrose

21 August 1987 (1987-08-21) 2	Colchester United	0–1	Torquay United	Colchester
19:30 BST		Report	Dobson 66'	Stadium: Layer Road Attendance: 1,372 Referee: Martin Bodenham

29 August 1987 (1987-08-29) 3	Scunthorpe United	2–2	Colchester United	Scunthorpe
	Johnson 23' Flounders 65'	Report	Wilkins 61' White 83'	Stadium: Old Showground Attendance: 2,003

31 August 1987 (1987-08-31) 4	Colchester United	1–3	Scarborough	Colchester
15:00 BST	Tempest 18'	Report	Thompson 68' (pen.) Mell 70' Moss 72'	Stadium: Layer Road Attendance: 1,525 Referee: Tony Ward

4 September 1987 (1987-09-04) 5	Crewe Alexandra	0–0	Colchester United	Crewe
		Report		Stadium: Gresty Road Attendance: 1,843 Referee: G Aplin

12 September 1987 (1987-09-12) 6	Colchester United	4–1	Peterborough United	Colchester
15:00 BST	White 35' Tempest 51' Chatterton 74' (pen.) Walsh 83'	Report	Lawrence 54'	Stadium: Layer Road Attendance: 1,164 Referee: R Wiseman

16 September 1987 (1987-09-16) 7	Hereford United	1–0	Colchester United	Hereford
	Stant 90'	Report		Stadium: Edgar Street Attendance: 1,951 Referee: Gerald Ashby

19 September 1987 (1987-09-19) 8	Hartlepool United	3–1	Colchester United	Hartlepool
	Baker 41' (pen.), 51', 80' (pen.)	Report	Hinshelwood 71'	Stadium: Victoria Park Attendance: 1,698 Referee: I Hendrick

27 November 1987 (1987-11-27) 20	Stockport County	1–1	Colchester United	Stockport
	Farnaby 43'	Report	Chatterton 50'	Stadium: Edgeley Park Attendance: 1,703 Referee: John Lloyd

25 September 1987 (1987-09-25) 9	Colchester United	0–2	Exeter City	Colchester
19:30 BST		Report	Batty 32' Edwards 58'	Stadium: Layer Road Attendance: 1,443 Referee: Alf Buksh

29 September 1987 (1987-09-29) 10	Colchester United	2–1	Swansea City	Colchester
	Tempest 3' Hinshelwood 47'	Report	Raynor 90' (pen.)	Stadium: Layer Road Attendance: 1,140 Referee: Rob Lewis

3 October 1987 (1987-10-03) 11	Newport County	1–2	Colchester United	Newport
	Thompson 87'	Report	Wilkins 22' Chatterton 51'	Stadium: Somerton Park Attendance: 1,200 Referee: N Butler

9 October 1987 (1987-10-09) 12	Colchester United	0–0	Leyton Orient	Colchester
19:30 BST		Report		Stadium: Layer Road Attendance: 1,665 Referee: M James

17 October 1987 (1987-10-17) 13	Wrexham	0–1	Colchester United	Wrexham
		Report	Reeves 26'	Stadium: Racecourse Ground Attendance: 1,493 Referee: P Harrison

20 October 1987 (1987-10-20) 14	Colchester United	1–0	Carlisle United	Colchester
	Tempest 75'	Report		Stadium: Layer Road Attendance: 1,328 Referee: D Reeves

24 October 1987 (1987-10-24) 15	Cambridge United	0–1	Colchester United	Cambridge
		Report	Chatterton 64' (pen.)	Stadium: Abbey Stadium Attendance: 2,450 Referee: David Phillips

30 October 1987 (1987-10-30) 16	Colchester United	2–1	Darlington	Colchester
19:30 GMT	Wilkins 56' Chatterton 68'	Report	Worthington 87' Phil Bonnyman	Stadium: Layer Road Attendance: 1,659 Referee: I Hemley

3 November 1987 (1987-11-03) 17	Rochdale	1–4	Colchester United	Rochdale
	Simmonds 45'	Report	Wilkins 34', 42' Chatterton 58' (pen.) Hinshelwood 72'	Stadium: Spotland Stadium Attendance: 1,399 Referee: Keith Hackett

6 November 1987 (1987-11-06) 18	Halifax Town	1–2	Colchester United	Halifax
	Galloway 42'	Report	Wilkins 14' Chatterton 83' (pen.)	Stadium: The Shay Attendance: 1,432 Referee: M Dimblebee

21 November 1987 (1987-11-21) 19	Colchester United	0–1	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Colchester
15:00 GMT	Reeves 65'	Report	Thompson 76' (pen.) Bull 65'	Stadium: Layer Road Attendance: 2,413 Referee: M Bailey

11 December 1987 (1987-12-11) 21	Colchester United	3–0	Bolton Wanderers	Colchester
19:30 GMT	Wilkins 29' White 68', 81'	Report		Stadium: Layer Road Attendance: 1,725 Referee: Brian Hill

18 December 1987 (1987-12-18) 22	Tranmere Rovers	0–2	Colchester United	Birkenhead
		Report	White 45', 70'	Stadium: Prenton Park Attendance: 2,642 Referee: F Roberts

26 December 1987 (1987-12-26) 23	Exeter City	0–2	Colchester United	Exeter
		Report	Wilkins 62' Tempest 75'	Stadium: St James Park Attendance: 2,675 Referee: Roger Gifford

28 December 1987 (1987-12-28) 24	Colchester United	2–1	Cardiff City	Colchester
19:30 GMT	Tempest 40' English 75'	Report	Kelly 24'	Stadium: Layer Road Attendance: 2,599 Referee: Phil Don

1 January 1988 (1988-01-01) 25	Colchester United	0–3	Scunthorpe United	Colchester
		Report	Daws 53', 77' Lister 61'	Stadium: Layer Road Attendance: 2,287 Referee: David Allison

2 January 1988 (1988-01-02) 26	Peterborough United	2–0	Colchester United	Peterborough
	White 56' Luke 81'	Report		Stadium: London Road Stadium Attendance: 3,666 Referee: N Butler

15 January 1988 (1988-01-15) 27	Colchester United	0–0	Hartlepool United	Colchester
19:30 GMT		Report		Stadium: Layer Road Attendance: 1,768 Referee: Tony Ward

30 January 1988 (1988-01-30) 28	Scarborough	3–1	Colchester United	Scarborough
	Graham 47' Cook 56', 64' (pen.) Russell	Report	Hinshelwood 84' (pen.)	Stadium: Athletic Ground Attendance: 2,155 Referee: A Robinson

5 February 1988 (1988-02-05) 29	Colchester United	1–4	Crewe Alexandra	Colchester
19:30 GMT	Tempest 47'	Report	Goulet 15', 62' Fishenden 22' English 88' (o.g.)	Stadium: Layer Road Attendance: 1,822 Referee: J Moules