Merthyr Imp
Vital Football Hero
Saturday 7th October 1995 - Lincoln City 0 Darlington 2 (Football League Division Three)
After a lacklustre 1994/95 season under manager Sam Ellis, finishing 12th in what was then Division Three (now League 2) City had made a good start to the new campaign with a win at the home of eventual champions Preston North End. However, things had then quickly fallen apart with one draw and five defeats from the next six games including both legs of the League Cup tie with Division Two side Notts County. After a home defeat by Barnet which caused the Imps to change places with the next-to-bottom side Ellis was sacked along with assistant Frank Lord. He was replaced immediately by former Chelsea defender Steve Wicks who had previous managerial experience in the Football League with Scarborough. Appointed with the job title of Head Coach on a non-contract basis his five matches to date had seen no improvement in results, one draw and four defeats, two of them at home, putting City bottom of the league.
Darlington, after finishing in 20th place seven points clear of relegation to the Conference had also made a poor start to the new season with just one win from ten games and were two places above City.
The teams were:
City:
1. Andy Leaning
2. Michael Appleton
3. Ben Dixon
4. Paul Wanless
5. Shane Westley
6. Alan Johnson
7. Darren Huckerby
8. Udo Onwere
9. David Johnson
10. Steve Brown
11. Kevin Hulme
12. Phil Daley (for David Johnson)
13. Matthew Bound (for Dixon)
14. Steve Williams
Darlington:
1. Mike Pollitt
2. Simon Shaw
3. Mark Barnard
4. Mattie Appleby
5. Andy Crosby
6. Sean Gregan
7. Gary Himsworth
8. Paul Olsson
9. Robbie Painter
10. Steve Gaughan
11. Gary Bannister
12. Tony Carss
13. Jose Quitongo
14. Gavin Worboys
Experienced goalkeeper Andy Leaning was in his third season with City having been signed by Keith Alexander in March 1994 and had started the season as second choice behind the on-loan Lance Key before regaining his place after the departure of Sam Ellis. 19-year-old midfielder Michael Appleton on loan from Manchester United deputised at right back for the injured Jason Minett in what was to be his last City appearance, while at left back was Ben Dixon, a product of City’s youth system who had originally broken through into the first team as a winger before making the majority of his appearances at left back, and at the age of 21 was making his last start in a City shirt. Steve Wicks had brought in three new players since being put in charge, and making his debut in this match was centre half Shane Westley from Cambridge United. Aged 30, he had made most of his 250-plus league appearances for Southend United. He partnered Alan Johnson, a player signed at about the same time as Leaning and who had been recalled from Preston in the middle of a loan spell which had seen him play two games for them. In midfield were ex-Oxford player Paul Wanless, signed by Sam Ellis but given his first start by Wicks. Alongside him was the popular Udo Onwere who had had only limited first team experience, partly due to injury, after being signed from Fulham by Ellis in the summer of 1994. On the right wing was up-and-coming star Darren Huckerby, at 19 the one bright spot of City’s season so far, while on the other flank was what you might call the polar opposite in terms of City players. What soon became seen as one of the worst pieces of transfer business in City’s long history had come less than a fortnight previously when Steve Wicks had arranged an exchange deal with Bury which saw one of the few other bright stars in City’s squad, wide midfielder or full back Dean West swapped for utility forward Kevin Hulme. West going on later to have a long career with Burnley while Hulme more or less disappeared without trace after just five games. In attack were the very talented but too often disappointingly ineffective David ‘Magic’ Johnson, an Alexander signing now in his third season, and Steve Brown, signed during the week from Gillingham and another player making his debut. Substitutes were centre forward Phil Daley, another summer 1994 signing by Sam Ellis, defender Matthew Bound on loan from Stockport and 20-year-old youth product Steve Williams.
Darlington manager was former Middlesbrough, Liverpool and Sunderland striker David Hodgson who had been appointed in the summer. The Quakers side included two former Imps in goalkeeper Mike Pollitt who played nearly 70 games for City before joining the north east side in the summer, and 35-year-old striker Gary Bannister who had scored eight goals in 34 appearances the previous season and was now player-coach for Darlington. The visitors’ side also included former Newcastle United defender Mattie Appleby who was later to play in the Premier League with Barnsley before – somewhat unusually for a footballer – becoming a deep-sea diver when his career was over. Alongside him was no-nonsense ex-Doncaster centre half Andy Crosby. In midfield was the experienced Paul Olsson with over 360 games behind him for the likes of Hartlepool and Scarborough and 21-year-old Sean Gregan later to be the subject of big money transfers to Preston and West Bromwich. On the wing was former York and Scarborough player Andy Himsworth while partnering Bannister was Robbie Painter who had cost £25,000 from Burnley two years before and who had previous Football League experience with Maidstone United and Chester.
In his notes Steve Wicks made a plea for supporters to get behind the team while elsewhere in the programme Chris Ashton commented on the amount of transfer speculation involving City and there was a full-page article on how the recent ‘Bosman ruling’ might affect clubs.
The attendance of 2,564 was typical for the time and we witnessed what Steve Wicks admitted afterwards was a ‘fear-filled’ performance. describing Ben Dixon and Darren Huckerby as the only two players to have played ‘with the courage of their convictions’ and saying that players were not doing what they were told.
Darlington played with increasing confidence as the game went on enjoying most of the possession against a nervous Imps defence that was increasingly stretched on the right where Michael Appleton was in an unfamiliar full back role. After wasting a number of chances, the visitors took the lead after 43 minutes, ironically just after a 25-yard drive by Paul Wanless had bounced back off the bar. Darlington defender Mattie Appleby charged 80 yards upfield to meet a cross from Mark Barnard and slide the ball into the net. During the half time interval David Johnson, suffering from flu, was replaced by Phil Daley up front for the Imps and he drew a save from Mike Pollitt after 64 minutes following a Huckerby cross. But six minutes later midfielder Paul Olsson headed home a cross from Himsworth to end any hopes of City rescuing the match.
Supporters’ comments to the Echo following the match ranged from ‘rubbish’ to ‘absolute rubbish’, with one describing the game as the worst he had ever seen, plus a Lincoln United supporter recommending people visit Ashby Avenue instead as ‘you won’t have to wait long before City visit for a league match’.
Thankfully, I can’t remember anything specific about the game but the programme cover shows my ratings of the players.
On a side note, top of the division at the time were Gillingham with their leading scorer being a certain Leo Fortune-West with six goals from eleven games.
The defeat put City five points adrift of Barnet at the bottom of the league but another managerial change was in the offing with John Beck literally waiting in wings to take over from Steve Wicks following the 0-0 draw at Scarborough the following Saturday. As far as I’m concerned Beck then saved the club from another dip into the Conference, finishing in 18th place after a big turnover of players with only Udo Onwere and Steve Brown of the squad for this match surviving for a substantial number of appearances.
Only Darlington’s second win of the season, it was the first in a run of five in a row which saw them up to seventh place in the table eventually finishing fifth before losing out to Plymouth in the promotion play-off final.
After a lacklustre 1994/95 season under manager Sam Ellis, finishing 12th in what was then Division Three (now League 2) City had made a good start to the new campaign with a win at the home of eventual champions Preston North End. However, things had then quickly fallen apart with one draw and five defeats from the next six games including both legs of the League Cup tie with Division Two side Notts County. After a home defeat by Barnet which caused the Imps to change places with the next-to-bottom side Ellis was sacked along with assistant Frank Lord. He was replaced immediately by former Chelsea defender Steve Wicks who had previous managerial experience in the Football League with Scarborough. Appointed with the job title of Head Coach on a non-contract basis his five matches to date had seen no improvement in results, one draw and four defeats, two of them at home, putting City bottom of the league.
Darlington, after finishing in 20th place seven points clear of relegation to the Conference had also made a poor start to the new season with just one win from ten games and were two places above City.
The teams were:
City:
1. Andy Leaning
2. Michael Appleton
3. Ben Dixon
4. Paul Wanless
5. Shane Westley
6. Alan Johnson
7. Darren Huckerby
8. Udo Onwere
9. David Johnson
10. Steve Brown
11. Kevin Hulme
12. Phil Daley (for David Johnson)
13. Matthew Bound (for Dixon)
14. Steve Williams
Darlington:
1. Mike Pollitt
2. Simon Shaw
3. Mark Barnard
4. Mattie Appleby
5. Andy Crosby
6. Sean Gregan
7. Gary Himsworth
8. Paul Olsson
9. Robbie Painter
10. Steve Gaughan
11. Gary Bannister
12. Tony Carss
13. Jose Quitongo
14. Gavin Worboys
Experienced goalkeeper Andy Leaning was in his third season with City having been signed by Keith Alexander in March 1994 and had started the season as second choice behind the on-loan Lance Key before regaining his place after the departure of Sam Ellis. 19-year-old midfielder Michael Appleton on loan from Manchester United deputised at right back for the injured Jason Minett in what was to be his last City appearance, while at left back was Ben Dixon, a product of City’s youth system who had originally broken through into the first team as a winger before making the majority of his appearances at left back, and at the age of 21 was making his last start in a City shirt. Steve Wicks had brought in three new players since being put in charge, and making his debut in this match was centre half Shane Westley from Cambridge United. Aged 30, he had made most of his 250-plus league appearances for Southend United. He partnered Alan Johnson, a player signed at about the same time as Leaning and who had been recalled from Preston in the middle of a loan spell which had seen him play two games for them. In midfield were ex-Oxford player Paul Wanless, signed by Sam Ellis but given his first start by Wicks. Alongside him was the popular Udo Onwere who had had only limited first team experience, partly due to injury, after being signed from Fulham by Ellis in the summer of 1994. On the right wing was up-and-coming star Darren Huckerby, at 19 the one bright spot of City’s season so far, while on the other flank was what you might call the polar opposite in terms of City players. What soon became seen as one of the worst pieces of transfer business in City’s long history had come less than a fortnight previously when Steve Wicks had arranged an exchange deal with Bury which saw one of the few other bright stars in City’s squad, wide midfielder or full back Dean West swapped for utility forward Kevin Hulme. West going on later to have a long career with Burnley while Hulme more or less disappeared without trace after just five games. In attack were the very talented but too often disappointingly ineffective David ‘Magic’ Johnson, an Alexander signing now in his third season, and Steve Brown, signed during the week from Gillingham and another player making his debut. Substitutes were centre forward Phil Daley, another summer 1994 signing by Sam Ellis, defender Matthew Bound on loan from Stockport and 20-year-old youth product Steve Williams.
Darlington manager was former Middlesbrough, Liverpool and Sunderland striker David Hodgson who had been appointed in the summer. The Quakers side included two former Imps in goalkeeper Mike Pollitt who played nearly 70 games for City before joining the north east side in the summer, and 35-year-old striker Gary Bannister who had scored eight goals in 34 appearances the previous season and was now player-coach for Darlington. The visitors’ side also included former Newcastle United defender Mattie Appleby who was later to play in the Premier League with Barnsley before – somewhat unusually for a footballer – becoming a deep-sea diver when his career was over. Alongside him was no-nonsense ex-Doncaster centre half Andy Crosby. In midfield was the experienced Paul Olsson with over 360 games behind him for the likes of Hartlepool and Scarborough and 21-year-old Sean Gregan later to be the subject of big money transfers to Preston and West Bromwich. On the wing was former York and Scarborough player Andy Himsworth while partnering Bannister was Robbie Painter who had cost £25,000 from Burnley two years before and who had previous Football League experience with Maidstone United and Chester.
In his notes Steve Wicks made a plea for supporters to get behind the team while elsewhere in the programme Chris Ashton commented on the amount of transfer speculation involving City and there was a full-page article on how the recent ‘Bosman ruling’ might affect clubs.
The attendance of 2,564 was typical for the time and we witnessed what Steve Wicks admitted afterwards was a ‘fear-filled’ performance. describing Ben Dixon and Darren Huckerby as the only two players to have played ‘with the courage of their convictions’ and saying that players were not doing what they were told.
Darlington played with increasing confidence as the game went on enjoying most of the possession against a nervous Imps defence that was increasingly stretched on the right where Michael Appleton was in an unfamiliar full back role. After wasting a number of chances, the visitors took the lead after 43 minutes, ironically just after a 25-yard drive by Paul Wanless had bounced back off the bar. Darlington defender Mattie Appleby charged 80 yards upfield to meet a cross from Mark Barnard and slide the ball into the net. During the half time interval David Johnson, suffering from flu, was replaced by Phil Daley up front for the Imps and he drew a save from Mike Pollitt after 64 minutes following a Huckerby cross. But six minutes later midfielder Paul Olsson headed home a cross from Himsworth to end any hopes of City rescuing the match.
Supporters’ comments to the Echo following the match ranged from ‘rubbish’ to ‘absolute rubbish’, with one describing the game as the worst he had ever seen, plus a Lincoln United supporter recommending people visit Ashby Avenue instead as ‘you won’t have to wait long before City visit for a league match’.
Thankfully, I can’t remember anything specific about the game but the programme cover shows my ratings of the players.
On a side note, top of the division at the time were Gillingham with their leading scorer being a certain Leo Fortune-West with six goals from eleven games.
The defeat put City five points adrift of Barnet at the bottom of the league but another managerial change was in the offing with John Beck literally waiting in wings to take over from Steve Wicks following the 0-0 draw at Scarborough the following Saturday. As far as I’m concerned Beck then saved the club from another dip into the Conference, finishing in 18th place after a big turnover of players with only Udo Onwere and Steve Brown of the squad for this match surviving for a substantial number of appearances.
Only Darlington’s second win of the season, it was the first in a run of five in a row which saw them up to seventh place in the table eventually finishing fifth before losing out to Plymouth in the promotion play-off final.
