1972–73 Cambridge United F.C. season

Cambridge United

1972–73 season
Manager	Bill Leivers
Football League Fourth Division	3rd
FA Cup	First round
League Cup	First round
Top goalscorer	Brian Greenhalgh (18)
← 1971–72 1973–74 →

The 1972–73 season was Cambridge United's 3rd season in the Football League.

Cambridge had a fine season finishing in 3rd position and thus gaining promotion to the Third Division after only three seasons in the Football League.

Final league table

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Southport	46	26	10	10	71	48	1.479	62
2	Hereford United	46	23	12	11	56	38	1.474	58
3	Cambridge United	46	20	17	9	67	57	1.175	57
4	Aldershot	46	22	12	12	60	38	1.579	56
5	Newport County	46	22	12	12	64	44	1.455	56
6	Mansfield Town	46	20	14	12	78	51	1.529	54
7	Reading	46	17	18	11	51	38	1.342	52
8	Exeter City	46	18	14	14	57	51	1.118	50
9	Gillingham	46	19	11	16	63	58	1.086	49
10	Lincoln City	46	16	16	14	64	57	1.123	48
11	Stockport County	46	18	12	16	53	53	1.000	48
12	Bury	46	14	18	14	58	51	1.137	46
13	Workington	46	17	12	17	59	61	0.967	46
14	Barnsley	46	14	16	16	58	60	0.967	44
15	Chester	46	14	15	17	61	52	1.173	43
16	Bradford City	46	16	11	19	61	65	0.938	43
17	Doncaster Rovers	46	15	12	19	49	58	0.845	42
18	Torquay United	46	12	17	17	44	47	0.936	41
19	Peterborough United	46	14	13	19	71	76	0.934	41
20	Hartlepool	46	12	17	17	34	49	0.694	41
21	Crewe Alexandra	46	9	18	19	38	61	0.623	36
22	Colchester United	46	10	11	25	48	76	0.632	31
23	Northampton Town	46	10	11	25	40	73	0.548	31
24	Darlington	46	7	15	24	42	85	0.494	29

P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; Pts = Points

Results

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League Fourth Division

Main article: 1972–73 Football League

Match	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
1	12 August 1972	Darlington	H	0 – 3	3,478
2	19 August 1972	Barnsley	A	1 – 3	2,808	Walker
3	26 August 1972	Doncaster Rovers	H	3 – 1	2,941	Brookes (o.g.), Collins, Phillips
4	30 August 1972	Mansfield Town	A	1 – 3	5,216	Lill
5	2 September 1972	Exeter City	A	1 – 3	3,249	Pointer
6	9 September 1972	Hartlepool United	H	1 – 1	2,647	Lill
7	16 September 1972	Newport County	A	2 – 0	3,564	Lill, Greenhalgh
8	20 September 1972	Stockport County	H	1 – 0	2,952	Robinson
9	23 September 1972	Peterborough United	H	3 – 1	4,378	Lill, Greenhalgh, Collins
10	26 September 1972	Gillingham	A	2 – 1	2,173	Collins, Greenhalgh
11	30 September 1972	Northampton Town	A	2 – 2	3,439	Collins, Watson
12	7 October 1972	Bradford City	H	2 – 1	3,960	Collins, Greenhalgh
13	11 October 1972	Hereford United	H	1 – 0	4,112	Phillips
14	13 October 1972	Southport	A	1 – 1	4,108	Phillips
15	20 October 1972	Colchester United	H	3 – 0	4,465	Noble (o.g.), Collins, Ross
16	25 October 1972	Crewe Alexandra	A	1 – 1	1,701	Walton
17	28 October 1972	Chester	A	1 – 1	3,605	Ross
18	4 November 1972	Gillingham	H	3 – 1	4,656	Collins, Lill, Walton
19	10 November 1972	Stockport County	A	2 – 2	3,165	Lill (2)
20	25 November 1972	Workington	A	1 – 5	1,112	Eades
21	2 December 1972	Torquay United	H	0 – 0	3,244
22	9 December 1972	Northampton Town	H	3 – 1	3,539	Lill, Greenhalgh (2)
23	16 December 1972	Bury	H	1 – 1	2,337	Greenhalgh
24	23 December 1972	Aldershot	H	2 – 2	3,918	Collins, Greenhalgh
25	26 December 1972	Peterborough United	A	1 – 1	7,577	Greenhalgh
26	30 December 1972	Barnsley	H	1 – 1	3,864	Lill
27	6 January 1973	Doncaster Rovers	A	0 – 0	1,735
28	20 January 1973	Exeter City	H	1 – 3	3,979	Watson
29	27 January 1973	Hartlepool United	A	0 – 0	3,036
30	31 January 1973	Crewe Alexandra	H	1 – 0	3,074	Greenhalgh
31	3 February 1973	Hereford United	A	1 – 2	8,907	Greenhalgh
32	10 February 1973	Newport County	H	3 – 1	3,496	Watson, Lill, Phillips
33	17 February 1973	Darlington	A	3 – 3	1,412	Lill, Ross, Watson
34	24 February 1973	Bury	H	2 – 2	3,768	Greenhalgh (2)
35	2 March 1973	Bradford City	A	1 – 0	5,031	Ross
36	7 March 1973	Lincoln City	H	2 – 1	3,736	Watson, Phillips
37	10 March 1973	Southport	H	2 – 2	5,504	Ross (2)
38	16 March 1973	Colchester United	A	1 – 0	3,888	Ross
39	21 March 1973	Reading	A	0 – 1	5,589
40	24 March 1973	Chester	H	1 – 0	3,935	Lill
41	31 March 1973	Workington	H	1 – 0	4,028	Greenhalgh
42	7 April 1973	Torquay United	A	2 – 1	4,014	Greenhalgh (2)
43	14 April 1973	Reading	H	1 – 0	6,033	Ross
44	21 April 1973	Lincoln City	A	1 – 2	4,801	Greenhalgh
45	24 April 1973	Aldershot	A	1 – 1	10,800	Greenhalgh
46	28 April 1973	Mansfield Town	H	3 – 2	11,542	Ross, Walton (2)

FA Cup

Main article: 1972–73 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
R1	18 November 1972	Bournemouth	A	1 – 5	10,034	Collins

League Cup

Main article: 1972–73 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
R1	16 August 1972	Brentford	A	0 – 1	7,750

Squad statistics

Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
DF	Vic Akers	32	0	1	0	1	0	34	0
DF	Jack Bannister	16	0	0	0	1	0	17	0
DF	Martin Binks	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
FW	John Collins	35(3)	8	1	1	0	0	36(3)	9
FW	Bryan Conlon	4(1)	0	0	0	1	0	5(1)	0
DF	Terry Eades	38	1	1	0	1	0	40	1
MF	Chris Foote	19(6)	0	1	0	1	0	21(6)	0
FW	Brian Greenhalgh	45	18	1	0	1	0	47	18
DF	Alan Guild	41(1)	0	1	0	0	0	42(1)	0
MF	David Lill	45	12	1	0	1	0	47	12
FW	Peter Phillips	6(12)	5	0	0	0	0	6(12)	5
MF	Keith Pointer	2	1	0	0	0	0	2	1
DF	Graham Rathbone	13	0	0	0	0	0	13	0
FW	Terry Robinson	6	1	0	0	0	0	6	1
MF	Bobby Ross	32	9	1	0	0	0	33	9
FW	Dave Simmons	0(3)	0	0	0	0	0	0(3)	0
GK	Graham Smith	12	0	0	0	0	0	12	0
DF	Jimmy Thompson	45	0	1	0	1	0	47	0
GK	Peter Vasper	34	0	1	0	1	0	36	0
MF	Dennis Walker	4	1	1	0	0	0	5	1
MF	Ronnie Walton	37	5	1	0	1	0	39	5
MF	Graham Watson	39	4	0	0	0	0	39	4

References

• Cambridge 1972–73 at statto.com
• Player information sourced from The English National Football Archive