THE town is still celebrating after Colchester United caused a major upset by beating Tottenham Hotspur in the third round of a major competition - but it is not the first time they have claimed an unexpected victory.

As it gets ready to face Crawley Town in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup later this month these images from our archives offer an opportunity to look back at the club’s history and one of its most famous successes.

In 1971 the team, then playing at their original Layer Road ground and hosting the fixture, knocked Leeds United out of the FA Cup with an impressive scoreline of three goals to two.

Under the guidance of manager Don Revie, Leeds were a major force to be reckoned with at the time and Colchester had certainly, not been expected to win the match - much like the meeting with Spurs last month.

Our pictures show manager Dick Graham celebrating the win and players during the match.

The team included match hero Ray Crawford who scored two of the goals.

Speaking later about the match he explained Graham had sent an injured player up to watch the Leeds team in the day before they met.

Colchester were three goals to the good before their rivals pulled two back, but Ray remembers they managed to “hold on” with 12 minutes left.

He also admitted despite having scored more than 300 goals, winning the League title and even playing for England it is the 1971 match he always got the most recognition for.

Afterwards Don Revie went into the Layer Road dressing room and shook hands with the team.

Meetings with topflight clubs are few and far between and stay in the memory and heart for many decades - it was to be later in that decade they would again have a mouthwatering match up, drawing Manchester United at home in the fifth round of the 1979 FA cup.

In Graeson Laitt’s book On This Day #ColU Day he recalls snow postponed the match and it only went ahead a few days later on February 2 with the help of 200 volunteers in clearing the pitch.

A crowd of 13,000 turned out to see what would be a 1-0 loss for the Us, whose players included Mick Packer, Micky Cook and Steve Wignall, against a side packed full of stars such as Steve Coppell and Lou Macari.

Colchester United would continue to play at the Layer Road ground, their home for more than seven decades, until 2008 when they relocated to the much larger JobServe Community Stadium.

New homes now stand on the Layer Road site.

Founded in 1937, the club originally played in the Southern Football League until being elected to the Football League in 1950 when they mainly played in the Third and Fourth Division.

* Contact us on 01206 508186.