THURSDAY, August 4 marked 14 years since Colchester United played their first game at the new stadium, after making the move from their original venue on Layer Road, to the Jobserve Community Stadium, a few months prior.

The Layer Road stadium was built in 1907 and held 6,320 spectators at the time.

The record attendance at Layer Road was 18,559 for their English Third Division (South) game against Ipswich Town on February 16, 1957.

There is still some confusion as to the actual highest attended home game.

19,072 tickets were sold for an FA Cup fixture against Reading in November 1948. The game was cut short after 35 minutes, due to thick fog obscuring the pitch.

There is still some doubt as to whether this was the final attendance for the game, as the whole area lay concealed under a blanket of fog on match day.

Storm damage meant that Colchester United went into the 1949-50 season without a roof on the Layer Road End, due to a steel shortage at the time.

An unusual feature of the ground was at the Layer Road End, where the back of the netting cut back into the stand.

The last first team match at Layer Road took place on April 26, 2008, when Colchester United were defeated 1 – 0 by Stoke City, with Richard Cresswell scoring the final goal at the stadium.

In 2011, a deal was signed, allowing for the construction of houses and flats on the site. The area planned to have a central, open grassed space, to reflect the sites history as a football ground.

In mid 2012, Layer Road was demolished, with the imminent construction of houses to follow.

In 2015 a six-foot bronze statue of Peter Wright, Colchester United’s Player of the Century was unveiled in the middle of the housing estate by his widow Lindsey Wright and Sir Bob Russell.

Wright signed for Colchester aged just 17, back in 1951, scoring 96 goals in 13 years. He worked part time at Paxman Diesel factory whilst doing so. He died, aged 78, in 2012 after a long illness.

The U’s first home game at the new stadium took place on August 4, 2008, when the U’s took on La Liga team Athletic Bilbao in a friendly match.

Initially, only around 5,000 Colchester United ticket holders were allowed into the stadium.

A successful internal test at held at the ground a few days prior to the match found that the capacity could be raised by a further 1,000, which went on sale on the door on matchday.