COLCHESTER United scored their first-ever Football League goal, 70 years ago today.

The historic goal was scored by centre-forward Arthur Turner in the U's midweek match at Swindon Town on August 23, 1950.

The Division Three (South) match ended in a 1-1 draw, with Turner's milestone 24th-minute goal cancelled out by Swindon's Willie Millar.

The Essex County Standard report was headlined: “This is an historic goal.”

In his match report, Arthur Wood wrote: “Star forward was Bob Curry. Arthur Turner scored the goal which gave the U’s the lead after 24 minutes but Curry “made” it.

"He went forward on the left for almost 20 yards, beat several defenders in the process, then pushed the ball through wide of Hunt, Swindon’s right-back.

"Turner ran into the open space and drove the ball, with his left foot, into the far bottom of the net.”

Turner was an interesting figure and is now an almost forgotten U’s hero.

Born in Poplar in January, 1922, he had already led an eventful life prior to scoring Colchester's landmark goal.

During the war years, he was on Charlton Athletic's books as an amateur.

He served as a RAF officer and was an air-gunner in the Second World War and was on board a Wellington Bomber plane that was shot down in the Bay of Biscay, in 1943.

The sole survivor of the crash, he was rescued at sea.

Turner played nine times in Charlton's FA Cup campaign that saw them reach the 1946 final against Derby County that year, becoming the first amateur to play in a Wembley cup final in more than two decades.

However, he never played a league match for Charlton and in 1946 joined Colchester, where he became one of the most prolific goalscorers in their history.

He scored an outstanding 100 goals in 164 appearances during his time at the U's.

Indeed, Turner is one of only four players to score a century or more goals for the club.

The East London-born forward had an outstanding record during his time with the U’s, with 74 goals in 94 starts in the Southern League.

After joining Colchester on a permanent basis in the autumn of 1946, he played a salient part in their dramatic FA Cup run in the 1947-48 season.

The U's progressed all the way to the fifth round, when they lost to the eventual finalists, Blackpool.

In total, he hit five hat-tricks (and three quads) for the U’s but he did have a spell on the sidelines when he underwent a cartilage operation at the start of the 1949/50 campaign.

It was an injury that allowed another of Colchester’s greats, Vic Keeble, to establish himself for the club.

However, Turner recovered to help the U's finish as Southern League runners-up in the 1949/50 season and featured in much of the club’s inaugural Football League season.

On August 31, 1950, he became the first player to score twice for the U's in a Football League match, bagging a brace in their 4-1 win against Swindon Town at Layer Road.

His electric form attracted the attention of the likes of Brentford and Southend United.

But manager Ted Fenton put a huge £9,000 transfer fee on Turner’s head, to ward off potential suitors.

By the 1951-52 season, Turner found himself out of first-team contention and was released by the U’s at the end of that campaign, joining Headington United.

Turner was one of the last-surviving members of the U’s very first-Football League team.

He died last year, on January 28, 2019, one week after his 98th birthday.