The 2009-10 campaign was a season of soaring ambition and dramatic turbulence for Colchester United, culminating in a respectable 8th-place finish in League One, the club's fourth best-ever result. The season was defined by a historic 7-1 opening day thrashing of rivals Norwich City, a moment immediately overshadowed by manager Paul Lambert's controversial departure to those very same Canaries. Under successor Aidy Boothroyd, The U's spent much of the year in the play-off spots, spear-headed by the prolific on-loan striker Kevin Lisbie, whose 13 goals anchored the attack. Despite a late-season collapse that saw them fall short of the play-offs, the campaign remains a defining, if frustrating, chapter marked by the intense local rivalry drama and the near-miss of the second tier.