Those Were The Days; 5th November 1985

Les1949 · Sun Nov 05, 2023 8:38 am

THOSE WERE THE DAYS
5th November 1985
Isthmian (Vauxhall-Opel) League Division 1
Hampton 3 St Albans City 3 Att; 145
Russell (p), Dickenson, Hollands

Chris Vagg; Robert Winterhalter, Malcolm Dickenson, Tim Hollands, Steve Rogers, Sean O’Connell, Fred Wilson, Mark Wilson, Mark Jonas, Dwight Marshall, Steve Russell.
Sub; Zarak Shafique

Hampton at one time led 3-1 but St Albans fought back to gain a point on a Tuesday night at Beveree. Two minutes before half time, Russell sprinted through but was brought down by keeper Pearson. Russell got up to ram home the spot kick. The visitors equalised in the 64th minute, Paradise, hitting a low shot past Vagg. Hampton responded with two goals in a couple of minutes. Dickenson put Hampton back in front when he converted a one-two with Russell, with a low shot into the far corner. Hollands then had a simple tap in from a Winterhalter free-kick. A few minutes later a disputed hand ball by Rogers led to Watt scoring from the penalty spot. In the 76th minute, the final goal of the game, Keen’s header was cleared off the line, but in the scramble, Gurney, fired home.

The Old Historian

Lord Elpus · Sun Nov 05, 2023 5:10 pm

There are some superb players in our line up there and yet we never had much in the way of success during those years. It's hard to pinpoint the reasons why really, with players of Dicko, Wilson, Marshall, Hollands, Rogers and O'Connell's calibre.

NickT · Mon Nov 06, 2023 9:45 am

Agreed, we were always knocking on the door of something special but luck never seemed to be on our side.
League Cup semi final penalty miss again Sutton when leading on aggregate to names one instance.
Poor Ricky Walkes was inconsolable after that.

Lord Elpus · Mon Nov 06, 2023 11:09 am

NickT wrote: ↑Mon Nov 06, 2023 9:45 am Agreed, we were always knocking on the door of something special but luck never seemed to be on our side.
League Cup semi final penalty miss again Sutton when leading on aggregate to names one instance.
Poor Ricky Walkes was inconsolable after that.

Definitely! We always seemed to be finishing in mid table or just above the relegation zone, and had no luck whatsoever in cups. Ricky Walkes was a fabulous player too and I still remember that Sutton game. Wonder what happened to him, I know he signed for a club in Cyprus and later joined Woking for a spell but he seemed to just disappear after a while.