United bounced back in style to clinch promotion to Division Two for the second time in three seasons.

The first full campaign in charge for Mervyn Day was a very successful one as United finished third with 84 points behind Wigan and Fulham and won the Auto Windscreens Shield at Wembley.

Day secured the services of former Barnsley and Celtic player Owen Archdeacon during the summer and a few weeks later persuaded Stephane Pounewatchy, an experienced French central defender to come to Brunton Park on a free transfer.

Pounewatchy became the club's first capture from overseas football and he made a big impact as United's revamped defensive line up kept four clean sheets in their first four games.

Captain and top scorer David Reeves joined Preston in October as part of a £300,000 deal that involved Allan Smart coming in the opposite direction. Smart made a good replacement for Reeves, with his more measured style suiting Day's passing game up front.

With youngsters Rory Delap, Matt Jansen and Lee Peacock all making good progress, the youth policy continued to bear fruit. Financially it made it's mark in March when Darren Edmondson, one of the early products of the scheme, was sold to Huddersfield Town for £225,000.

The Wembley trip in April coincided with promotion, and a celebrating army of 25,000 Cumbrians watched Tony Caig save two Colchester penalties to give United a nailbiting shootout victory in front of the Twin Towers.

Statistics

NATIONWIDE LEAGUE DIVISION THREE
Date         Opponents          Venue   Res     Att   Pts Pos    Scorers
17/08/96     Doncaster Rovers     A     1-0    3003     3   -    Delap 54
24/08/96     HULL CITY            H     0-0    5407     4   8    -
27/08/96     LEYTON ORIENT        H     1-0    4973     7   4    Hayward 76
31/08/96     Fulham               A     0-1    5860     7   8    -
07/09/96     SWANSEA CITY         H     4-1    5114    10   4    Hayward 17 Conway 32 
                                                                 Aspinall 38 Archdeacon 86
10/09/96     Hartlepool United    A     2-1    3077    13   3    Hayward 83 Reeves 89
14/09/96     Scarborough          A     1-1    3524    14   3    Archdeacon 73
21/09/96     DARLINGTON           H     1-0    5701    17   3    Conway 9
28/09/96     Torquay United       A     2-1    2435    20   2    Reeves 79 Hayward 81
01/10/96     COLCHESTER UNITED    H     3-0    4889    23   1    Hayward 43 Reeves 57 
                                                                 Archdeacon 58
05/10/96     MANSFIELD TOWN       H     1-1    5509    24   1    Aspinall (pen) 80
12/10/96     Rochdale             A     2-2    3320    25   3    Smart 27 Peacock 54
15/10/96     Exeter City          A     1-2    2155    25   4    Smart 13
19/10/96     CARDIFF CITY         H     0-2    4972    25   4    -
26/10/96     Barnet               A     0-0    2422    26   4    -
29/10/96     CHESTER CITY         H     3-1    4187    29   4    Peacock 59,69 Smart 82
02/11/96     WIGAN ATHLETIC       H     0-3    6235    29   5    -
09/11/96     Northampton Town     A     1-1    4682    30   4    Conway 59
19/11/96     CAMBRIDGE UNITED     H     3-0    3839    33   4    Peacock 73 Smart 81 
                                                                 Aspinall 82
23/11/96     Brighton             A     3-1    4155    36   4    Pounewatchy 27 Aspinall 41 
                                                                 Smart 68
30/11/96     BARNET               H     2-1    4472    39   2    Archdeacon 49 Conway 77
03/12/96     Lincoln City         A     1-1    2033    40   4    Hayward 32
14/12/96     Hereford United      A     3-2    1855    43   2    Conway 3 Archdeacon 39 
                                                                 Aspinall 90
21/12/96     SCUNTHORPE UNITED    H     3-2    5646    46   2    Walling 27,32 Hayward 65
26/12/96     HARTLEPOOL UNITED    H     1-0    6947    49   2    Peacock 82
28/12/96     Swansea City         A     1-0    7340    52   2    Prokas 90
18/01/97     Colchester United    A     1-1    3588    53   2    Archdeacon 34
01/02/97     NORTHAMPTON TOWN     H     2-1    5271    56   2    Conway 47,60
08/02/97     Wigan Athletic       A     0-1    6195    56   3    -
11/02/97     SCARBOROUGH          H     1-0    4936    59   3    Peacock 77
15/02/97     BRIGHTON             H     2-1    5465    62   2    Smart 24,35
21/02/97     Cambridge United     A     3-1    4294    65   1    Peacock 5 Smart 47,62
25/02/97     Chester City         A     1-1    2750    66   2    McAlindon 81
01/03/97     LINCOLN CITY         H     1-0    4958    69   1    Smart 48
04/03/97     TORQUAY UNITED       H     5-1    4680    72   1    Conway 13 Peacock 25 Smart 53
                                                                 Freestone 81 Delap 85
08/03/97     Scunthorpe United    A     0-0    3470    73   1    -
15/03/97     HEREFORD UNITED      H     2-3    5063    73   1    Conway 4 Freestone 16
22/03/97     Hull City            A     1-0    3847    76   1    Jansen 90
29/03/97     DONCASTER ROVERS     H     0-0    6551    77   2    -
31/03/97     Leyton Orient        A     1-2    4604    77   2    Hopper 43
05/04/97     FULHAM               H     1-2    9171    77   3    Delap 20
08/04/97     Darlington           A     1-2    4184    77   3    Delap 8
11/04/97     Mansfield Town       A     0-0    4375    78   3    -
26/04/97     Cardiff City         A     0-2    5178    78   3    -
29/04/97     ROCHDALE             H     3-2    4882    81   3    Hayward 73 Archdeacon 76 
                                                                 Dobie 79
03/05/97     EXETER CITY          H     2-0    6170    84   3    Peacock 35 McAlindon 43

COCA COLA CUP
Date         Opponents              Venue   Res   Att  Scorers
20/08/96     CHESTER CITY (R1,1L)     H     1-0  4042  Archdeacon 40
03/09/96     Chester City (R1,2L)     A     3-1  1947  Reeves 42 Aspinall 61 Hayward 72
17/09/96     Port Vale (R2,1L)        A     0-1  3505  -
24/09/96     PORT VALE (R2,2L)        H     2-2  5545  Thomas 8,74

AUTO WINDSCREENS SHIELD
Date         Opponents              Venue   Res   Att  Scorers
10/12/96     ROCHDALE (R1)            H     2-0  3622  Walling 66 McAlindon 85
28/01/97     HULL CITY (R2)           H     4-0  3716  Conway 21,26,77 Pounewatchy 65
04/02/97     York City (R3)           A     2-0  1922  Thomas 12 Archdeacon 31
18/02/97     Shrewsbury Town (NSF)    A     2-1  2774  Walling 60 Archdeacon (pen) 65   
18/03/97     STOCKPORT COUNTY (NF)    H     2-0  7057  Archdeacon 56, (pen) 90  
25/03/97     Stockport County (NF)    A     0-0  8593  -
20/04/97     Colchester United (F)    N     0-0 (won 4-3 on pens)
                                                45077  -

FA CHALLENGE CUP
Date         Opponents              Venue   Res   Att  Scorers
16/11/96     SHEPSHED DYNAMO (R1)     H     6-0  4394  Davidson(og) 16 Corbett (og) 34 
                                                       Peacock 36 Conway 61 
                                                       Archdeacon (pen) 74 McAlindon 87
07/12/96     DARLINGTON (R2)          H     1-0  5625  Edmondson 89
14/01/97     TRANMERE ROVERS (R3)     H     1-0 10090  Archdeacon 30
25/01/97     SHEFFIELD WED (R4)       H     0-2 16104  -


HOME LEAGUE ATTENDANCE
Avg.  High   Low Tot.Att.
5436  9171  3839 125038

PLAYER RANKINGS
Player                Avg Tot.Pt  Apps  Subs Man of Match
Warren Aspinall      7.31   380     51     1        10
Dean Walling         7.23   434     60     0         9
Stephane Pounewatchy 7.16   408     57     0         6
Will Varty           7.16   322     43     2         2
Darren Edmondson     7.11   192     26     1         2
Rod Thomas           7.10   355     29    21         4
Tony Caig            7.08   432     61     0         4
Steve Hayward        7.07   410     58     0         6
Owen Archdeacon      7.07   424     60     0         3
Paul Conway          6.95   264     35     3         2
Allan Smart          6.95   257     33     4         5
Matt Jansen          6.93   187      7    20         3
Tony Hopper          6.88   165     16     8
Lee Peacock          6.84   397     49     9         3
Rory Delap           6.80   313     36    10
David Reeves         6.73    74     11     0         1
Gareth McAlindon     6.71    94      3    11         1
Richard Prokas       6.71   114     11     6
Jamie Robinson       6.50    65      8     2
David Currie         6.20    62      5     5

Less than 10 appearances
Dylan Kerr           7.00     7      0     1
Stephen Heath        7.00     7      0     1
Jeff Thorpe          6.80    34      2     3
Peter Shirtliff      6.80    34      5     0
Chris Freestone      6.71    47      5     2
Scott Dobie          6.50    13      0     2
Jonathan Bass        5.67    17      3     0

GOALSCORERS
Name                  Lge   CCC    AWS   FAC     Total
Owen Archdeacon         7     1      4     2        14
Paul Conway             9     0      3     1        13
Allan Smart            11     0      0     0        11
Lee Peacock             9     0      0     1        10
Steve Hayward           8     1      0     0         9
Warren Aspinall         5     1      0     0         6
Rory Delap              4     0      0     0         4
David Reeves            3     1      0     0         4
Gareth McAlindon        2     0      1     1         4
Dean Walling            2     0      2     0         4
Rod Thomas              0     2      1     0         3
Chris Freestone         2     0      0     0         2
Stephane Pounewatchy    1     0      1     0         2
Own goals               0     0      0     2         2
Richard Prokas          1     0      0     0         1
Matt Jansen             1     0      0     0         1
Tony Hopper             1     0      0     0         1
Scott Dobie             1     0      0     0         1
Darren Edmondson        0     0      0     1         1

TOTALS                 67     6     12     8        93