33 years ago today

The last time we scored six goals in the league.

6-2 v Southend United, Geoffrey Pike netting a hat-trick.

The team that day....

Manager:- John Barnwell
1. Mick Leonard
2. Paul Smalley
3. Darren Davis
4. David Kevan
5. Dean Yates
6. Paul Hart
7. Gary Mills
8. Ian McParland
9. Garry Birtles *
10. Geoff Pike
11. David Thompson +

Sub: Gary Lund *14
Sub: Wayne Fairclough +45


We did put 7 past Shildon in the FA Cup in 2003 and of course there was the friendly 17-0 mauling of Rolls Royce two years and two months ago. League wise though, 33 years is a long time to go without hitting somebody for six.

John Barnwell's first few games as manager were like a shooting gallery. I recall we had a 4-4 draw with Wigan and a 5-3 win at York before the Southend game.

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Originally Posted by jackal2

John Barnwell's first few games as manager were like a shooting gallery. I recall we had a 4-4 draw with Wigan and a 5-3 win at York before the Southend game.

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*THE* Andy Gray in defence and the long forgotten Dale Belford in goal at York.
Center back Craig Jackson still with us at that point too, unused sub before he quit to join the police force. Good promising player he was and might have come in very useful later in that campaign when Barmwell had to resort to using Birtles at the back, or Paul Hart who was way past his best.

Listening to the latest Magpie Circle episode, I didn't know Mick Waitt was initially part of Barnwell's plans until a deal was set up for Gary Lund to come from Lincoln (who'd just become the first club ever to be relegated from - rather than voted out of - the Football League) and for Waitt to go the other way.

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Originally Posted by upthemaggies

Listening to the latest Magpie Circle episode, I didn't know Mick Waitt was initially part of Barnwell's plans until a deal was set up for Gary Lund to come from Lincoln (who'd just become the first club ever to be relegated from - rather than voted out of - the Football League) and for Waitt to go the other way.

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With hindsight it was somewhat surprising that Waitt agreed to go the other way, given that he had been very much part of the first-team picture with Notts. Maybe in those pre-Bosman days the players had less power over such decisions.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jackal2

With hindsight it was somewhat surprising that Waitt agreed to go the other way, given that he had been very much part of the first-team picture with Notts. Maybe in those pre-Bosman days the players had less power over such decisions.

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Mick says in hindsight he should have given it more thought. He got on well with Colin Murphy but didn't hit it off with Steve Thompson when he arrived and he ended up breaking his leg.
Bizarrely Waitt thought Neal Ardley played in the game in which he made his debut at Wimbledon. Ardley would have been 13 at the time.

He's a local Calverton lad and probably should not, as with a lot of his mid 80s contemporaries, be dismissed as easily as they are. At the time, they were being compared to players who'd just taken us to the very top. Recalling a team with the likes of Smalley, Davis, Harbottle, Kevan, Fairclough, R.Young and Waitt was a bit of a joke throughout the 1990s but that team would probably wipe the floor with most of the teams we've had this century.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by upthemaggies

Listening to the latest Magpie Circle episode, I didn't know Mick Waitt was initially part of Barnwell's plans until a deal was set up for Gary Lund to come from Lincoln (who'd just become the first club ever to be relegated from - rather than voted out of - the Football League) and for Waitt to go the other way.

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I think Phil Turner was also in that relegated Lincoln side....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by upthemaggies

Mick says in hindsight he should have given it more thought. He got on well with Colin Murphy but didn't hit it off with Steve Thompson when he arrived and he ended up breaking his leg.
Bizarrely Waitt thought Neal Ardley played in the game in which he made his debut at Wimbledon. Ardley would have been 13 at the time.

He's a local Calverton lad and probably should not, as with a lot of his mid 80s contemporaries, be dismissed as easily as they are. At the time, they were being compared to players who'd just taken us to the very top. Recalling a team with the likes of Smalley, Davis, Harbottle, Kevan, Fairclough, R.Young and Waitt was a bit of a joke throughout the 1990s but that team would probably wipe the floor with most of the teams we've had this century.

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Yes, with a bit of help from old timers like Tristan Benjamin and Steve Sims, and with Jimmy Sirrel's wily management, those kids did enough to keep us in the top half of what is now League One until the cavalry arrived in the form of Derek Pavis and eventually Neil Warnock. There was Paul Barnes too, who came back from an horrendous injury to be a good lower league striker.