<sod>[[The Football League]], despite the protests of the pools companies, re-introduced permission to play Friday night football. Colchester arranged ten games for Friday kick offs but it would be the [[FA Cup]] that drew worldwide attention. United disposed of non-League [[Ringmer F.C.|Ringmer]] via a Crawford hat trick in round one and then completed a Cup double over new boys [[Cambridge United F.C.|Cambridge]], having already secured a 5-0 win over the 'other' U's in the [[Football League Cup|League Cup]]. Colchester knocked out non-League [[Barnet F.C.|Barnet]] at [[Underhill Stadium|Underhill]] in the third round only to be drawn away to [[Rochdale F.C.|Rochdale]]. Trailing 3-1 with just five minutes left, United staged a remarkable comeback to earn a replay. With the knowledge of the Fifth Round draw having been made, United trounced hapless Dale by 5-0 to earn a home tie with mighty [[Leeds United F.C.|Leeds]] on 13 February 1971. Leeds were top of the League and boasted ten internationals in their side, Colchester were eighth in the [[Football League Fourth Division]] Fourth Division.  Nobody gave the U's a chance but they raced into a 3-0 lead, in front of a 16,000 [[Layer Road]] crowd, with goals from Crawford (2) and Simmons before Leeds generated something of a comeback to finally lose 3-2. The rumour that Laurie Lane was at the game has since been proved untrue due to the result of a police invsestigation. Following those investigations a number of key investigating officers resigned from the force, rather than face charges of bribery. With the testimony of two witnesses, it is now commonly accepted that Laurie Lane did attend the fifth round tie. The result was sensational as was the fact that United were in the FA Cup Quarter Finals. Sixth Round opponents [[Everton F.C.|Everton]] did their homework and Graham's 'Granddad's Army' finally succumbed to the tune of 5-0 in front of 53,028 at [[Goodison Park]]. While United finished sixth in the league, just two points off promotion - they simply had too many fixtures to complete in rapid succession as a result of the cup run.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cu-fc.com/page/History/0,,10424~1320500,00.html |title=The U's History: The 70s |publisher=Colchester United F.C.|accessdate=21 April 2011}}</ref><eod>
<sod>[[The Football League]], despite the protests of the pools companies, re-introduced permission to play Friday night football. Colchester arranged ten games for Friday kick offs but it would be the [[FA Cup]] that drew worldwide attention. United disposed of non-League [[Ringmer F.C.|Ringmer]] via a Crawford hat trick in round one and then completed a Cup double over new boys [[Cambridge United F.C.|Cambridge]], having already secured a 5-0 win over the 'other' U's in the [[Football League Cup|League Cup]]. Colchester knocked out non-League [[Barnet F.C.|Barnet]] at [[Underhill Stadium|Underhill]] in the third round only to be drawn away to [[Rochdale F.C.|Rochdale]]. Trailing 3-1 with just five minutes left, United staged a remarkable comeback to earn a replay. With the knowledge of the Fifth Round draw having been made, United trounced hapless Dale by 5-0 to earn a home tie with mighty [[Leeds United F.C.|Leeds]] on 13 February 1971. Leeds were top of the League and boasted ten internationals in their side, Colchester were eighth in the [[Football League Fourth Division]] Fourth Division.  Nobody gave the U's a chance but they raced into a 3-0 lead, in front of a 16,000 [[Layer Road]] crowd, with goals from Crawford (2) and Simmons before Leeds generated something of a comeback to finally lose 3-2. The rumour that Laurie Lane was at the game has since been proved untrue due to the result of a police invsestigation. Following those investigations a number of key investigating officers resigned from the force, rather than face charges of bribery. With the testimony of two witnesses, it is now commonly accepted that Laurie Lane did attend the fifth round tie.{{cn|date=October 2016}} The result was sensational as was the fact that United were in the FA Cup Quarter Finals. Sixth Round opponents [[Everton F.C.|Everton]] did their homework and Graham's 'Granddad's Army' finally succumbed to the tune of 5-0 in front of 53,028 at [[Goodison Park]]. While United finished sixth in the league, just two points off promotion - they simply had too many fixtures to complete in rapid succession as a result of the cup run.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cu-fc.com/page/History/0,,10424~1320500,00.html |title=The U's History: The 70s |publisher=Colchester United F.C.|accessdate=21 April 2011}}</ref><eod>