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Since my travels had started in earnest County had visited Layer Road 9 times before I made the trip. A quick look at the map shows it to be one of the more far-flung destinations, and with precious little motorway access, certainly through East Anglia it had hardly been an attractive trip to make. Home games over the same period had hardly been successful either with only 3 wins in 10 attempts. However, on the opening day of 2002/03 Jeff and I decided to make the journey, albeit that we availed ourselves of the Fingerpost Flyer.

Carlton Palmer had been manager since the previous November, and at the end of 2001/02 he presided over a relegation and a return to the 3rd tier for the first time in 5 years. We were keen to see what his summer signings would bring to the party, and to get an initial view on whether there would be a return to the 2nd Tier at the end of the season.

We got an fairly immediate response to that question. Making their debuts were Rickie Lambert, (who of course was to move onto greater things), and Ben Burgess and Martin Pemberton, (who most assuredly weren’t!).

We had little to offer. Goalless at half time, we went down to 10 men 4 minutes into the second half when Fraser McLachlan received his second yellow card and was invited by referee Paul Danson, (never a favourite of County fans), in the time honoured phrase ‘to have first use of the soap’. By the hour mark we were behind and there was to be no recovery despite the introduction of Burgess, (purportedly a £450k signing). His County career was brief – by January he had disappeared and after a short loan spell at Oldham had moved onto Hull, at what must have been a considerable loss.

It was my only trip to Layer Road – a traditional lower division ground, and one I liked. I have ventured to the garrison town only once more. That time, (in early 2009), it was to the new ground, the Colchester Community Stadium. A monument o breeze block; miles from town; no atmosphere – everything a football ground shouldn’t be.

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Memories of Layer Road Memories of the Colchester Community Stadium

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THE GAMES

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Where the date is in bold click for highlights of the game

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	Date	Venue	Ground	Competition		F	A	Att:
Fri	22/04/77	h	Edgeley Park	Football League Division 4 (Tier 4)	D	1	1	2,826
Mon	22/03/82	h	Edgeley Park	Football League Division 4 (Tier 4)	D	0	0	1,740
Fri	22/04/83	h	Edgeley Park	Football League Division 4 (Tier 4)	W	3	0	1,733
Fri	09/09/83	h	Edgeley Park	Canon League Division 4 (Tier 4)	D	0	0	2,077
Mon	04/03/85	h	Edgeley Park	Canon League Division 4 (Tier 4)	W	1	0	1,561
Fri	17/01/86	h	Edgeley Park	Canon League Division 4 (Tier 4)	D	1	1	2,336
Fri	24/10/86	h	Edgeley Park	Today League Division 4 (Tier 4)	D	1	1	1,281
Fri	27/11/87	h	Edgeley Park	Barclays League Division 4 (Tier 4)	D	1	1	1,703
Mon	13/03/89	h	Edgeley Park	Barclays League Division 4 (Tier 4)	W	1	0	2,027
Fri	02/03/90	h	Edgeley Park	Barclays League Division 4 (Tier 4)	D	1	1	3,452
Sat	10/08/02	a	Layer Road	Nationwide Football League – Division 2 (Tier 3)	L	0	1	3,300
Sat	01/02/03	h	Edgeley Park	Nationwide Football League – Division 2 (Tier 3)	D	1	1	4,011
Tue	21/10/03	h	Edgeley Park	Nationwide Football League – Division 2 (Tier 3)	L	1	3	3,683
Sat	12/03/05	h	Edgeley Park	Coca-Cola Football League – League 1 (Tier 3)	L	1	2	4,004
Sat	18/10/08	h	Edgeley Park	Coca-Cola Football League – League 1 (Tier 3)	L	1	2	6,025
Tues	24/02/09	a	Colchester Community Stadium	Coca-Cola Football League – League 1 (Tier 3)	L	0	1	3,179
Sat	13/02/10	h	Edgeley Park	Coca-Cola Football League – League 1 (Tier 3)	D	2	2	3,642

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