Suffolk Blue wrote:I remember the Yeovil game. Twas a warm sunny day and I think the gate was pretty good at the time - over 2000. I'm desperately trying to remember who scored. Seem to recall that at least one was from a set piece - for some reason Mick Richmond comes to mind but I'm not sure. I remember it being a reasonably comfortable win and coming away thinking that based on that result we'd do just fine in this league. However I was at least 10 years out on that one. Am also trying to remember who was our Manager at the time. Was it Micky Taylor?
Yes, S.B. (and, by the way, good to meet you the other week at the Dover game!) that Yeovil game is hugely memorable. Even though it's 38 years ago now it seems like yesterday to me, so bright does the memory burn in my mind. It's odd the way memory works but I expect the reason that match is so very memorable is because it was a big occasion, being the first National League (Alliance Premier as it was then called) match ever. And, in addition, it marked something of a climb back to better times after seven years in the NPL wilderness (which ranged from desperate to just a little less desperate). It might not sound spectacular but Moses McManus deserves a lot of credit for getting us up to 13th and 16th in the NPL in 77-78 and 78-79 respectively . . . after five consecutive seasons in the bottom four following our demotion from the Football League. Unfortunately, Brian didn't survive too long in that inaugural season in the Alliance Premier before being replaced by Mick Taylor but it should be said that getting us to 13th and 16th in the NPL – and opening the door to the newly formed "big" league – was a great achievement bearing in mind what had gone before. It was a Lazarus job for sure.
It was very fitting that a young Cowps got our goals in that 2-0 win against Yeovil on August 18th 1979, sending out a signal that he would be a force to be reckoned with over the next dozen years. In blazing sunshine, both goals came in the first half at the Steelworks (Crossbar) end, though it should be said that that end of the ground was just a gaping open space as the stunning piece of architecture that occupies the area now was two years away from construction. The first goal ever at that level was a really good goal; a short corner was played from the Trust House corner to the excellent right-back Mick Richmond who swung in a perfect cross. Soaring horizontally through the sky (in similar trajectory to how he would likewise do at Wembley 11 years down the line) the youthful God met it with his head and dispatched it into the top corner. The second goal was more mundane as he bundled home from the six-yard line when a low cross came in from the left.
The team was:
Kevin Thomas, Mick Richmond, Mark Wynn, Rob Thomas, Neil McDonald, Mick Taylor, Mick Worswick, Royston Taylor, Colin Cowperthwaite, Dave Busby, Barry Diamond.
Later in that 79-80 season Glenn Skivington and Kenny Gordon appeared on the scene.
The crowd was 2027. Like you S.B., I remember talking with mates on the way back home and the feeling was one of optimism that we could be okay at this level with this team. In the end that was true as we finished a reasonable 14th but we did suffer a dip which led to the departure of Brian McManus. The crowd soon lost the buzz of this new league however, for the attendances for the next two home matches dropped by almost half to 1133 and 1030 and by the time we got to the final home game of the season it was down to 652. The fascination of the big new Non-League set-up had worn off. Despite that, we did very well, finishing 9th and 8th in 1980-81 and 1981-82, positions we have only now managed to surpass. But don't ask what happened in 1982-83 . . . . . instead, skip to Vic Halom!
and it's not mentioned in any of the biogs I've seen.