AN eagle-eyed U’s fan was stunned after miraculously spotting himself and his late father on the cover of a book featuring his heroes which was given to him as a Christmas gift.

Dave Wheeler, 63, was presented with the hard back My Layer Road – which documents Colchester United’s time at the beloved old ground – by his step-daughter Kelly.

The cover features a penalty area scrap during the U’s most famous game when they knocked Leeds United out of the FA Cup in 1971 and Dave found himself and his father Ron amongst the faces in the crowd.

After rifling through old photographs of his dad and checking with mum Audrey, the family were able to confirm what they believe is the pair looking on at the U’s giant killing heroics.

 

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Dave said: “When I was opened the present I said I was certain I was at that match with my dad.

“I can remember it quite well because all of the excitement and because Leeds United were like the Barcelona of their day with all their internationals.

“I know we stood in the area to watch the match and I was looking across the rows and saw someone who I thought was definitely my dad.

“I started to look through some photographs from around that time and found one when his face was slanted exactly the same way as he was in the crowd.

“It was so coincidental because there must have been 16,000 people inside Layer Road on the day.

“You could see it was him but identifying me was more difficult because I was 18 so I have changed a lot from then until now.”

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The match was the last the two attended together as Dave’s work commitments meant he had less free time on Saturdays and his dad mainly followed Ipswich Town.

Now living in Hitchin, after moving around the country because of work, the former Gilberd School pupil still follows his beloved U’s from afar and is hoping they perform the greatest of escapes to avoid relegation.

“Hopefully I can go and see them when they play Coventry next month,” he said.

“They got it to the last game of the season last year which was very exciting so hopefully it can happen again.”