Today in his Memory Match series, Simon Weatherill looks back to the 3-0 home win over Grimsby on March 13^th 1954.

The 1953/54 season would be manager Bob Gurney’s second full season in charge. The previous season had seen the Quakers finish fourth from bottom in Division 3 North, so Gurney spent the summer of ’53 recruiting new players, determined to improve the club’s fortunes. The opening games of the new campaign saw six of his new signings given their chance in a new look first eleven. George Gray (signed from Swindon), Jim French (Northampton), Ernie Butler (Southend), Eddie Carr (Bradford City), Charlie Nicklas (Hull City) and Les Robson (also Hull City) all began the new season in or around the first team, aiming to give Quakers fans a bit more to shout about.

The new players failed to make the required impact however as the team made a poor start. Only one goal scored and one point gained from the first five games meant that almost immediately the team found themselves at the wrong end of the table, facing a long hard season. The occasional victory kept the Quakers in touch with the rest of the division, but then six defeats on the trot during November and December saw the club firmly rooted to the bottom of the table. There was brief respite at Christmas with back to back games against Scunthorpe, who were fourth in the table and challenging for promotion. On Christmas Day the Quakers returned from Lincolnshire with a very creditable 1-1 draw and followed that up on Boxing Day by beating The Iron 3-0 at Feethams. Les Robson had scored all four of Darlington’s festive goals. The impressive three point haul from their promotion chasing opponents lifted the Quakers off the foot of the table.

The team had been strengthened in the December by the arrival of right half Ken Furphy, who signed for the club after completing his National Service. He was joined in January by Harry Houlahan, who signed from Oldham, and then in February by right back Ernie Devlin, who joined from West Ham. By the time Grimsby Town visited Feethams on March 13th, the Quakers sat second bottom in the table, three points above Chester, and level on 26 points with near neighbours Hartlepools, who had a slightly better goal average. Grimsby sat safely in mid table with 33 points from their 34 games, and would be relishing their trip to Feethams, as the Quakers had become their favourite opponents in recent years. Their last seven meetings in league and cup had seen six Grimsby wins and one draw. Darlington welcomed back regular centre half Denis Howe, who had missed the midweek game at Tranmere due to a back injury. His replacement at Tranmere, Joe Davison, dropped back into the reserve team. Grimsby would include former Quaker Jim Maddison at outside left.

4651 people turned out at Feethams to see what turned out to be Darlington’s best performance of the season. Grimsby started well and several early thrusts looked dangerous and could have given them the lead, but once the Quakers got into their stride the visitors were hardly ever in the picture. The performance was even more impressive because it was achieved after an early injury to Harry Houlahan. He spent three quarters of the game hobbling about on the left wing with Les Robson moving to inside left. (No substitutes in those days, so injured players just had to limp around as best as they could to provide nuisance value to the opposition, usually out on the wing.) It was Robson who opened the scoring after 38 minutes. He emerged from a ruck of players in the centre of the pitch and showed a clean pair of heels to all the opposition with a 40 yard burst, before driving the ball into the net past the advancing Grimsby goalkeeper Harry Nicholson. The home side remained on top and were always in control. It took them until the 64th minute however to increase their lead. Good work down the right by Harry Clark led to a cross into the centre met by Houlahan who scored from close range. Six minutes later Houlahan scored his second of the afternoon, again from close range, after a free kick by Robson. Darneton, writing in the Northern Echo, was impressed by the whole team. “The forward line has never played better. All the forwards played well with Clark showing fine form. The defence was strong, the backs showing excellent understanding with the wing halves. More often than not the defenders cleared their lines by short accurate passes to the men in front rather than by long indiscriminate kicking. It was a good all round display – one which augurs well for the club in its efforts to get away from the bottom of the table.”

The 3-0 victory meant that the Quakers were still second bottom in the table, but it tightened things up considerably in the scrap to avoid the bottom two re-election places. Chester seemed doomed, four points adrift at the bottom, but now only three points separated the seven clubs immediately above them. Houlahan’s injury kept him out of the next two games (both defeats) and Ken Furphy’s season was finished when he cracked a bone in his elbow playing for the RAF. Things looked bleak but the team saved themselves with a superb late run, winning two and drawing three of their last five games of the season to finish fourth bottom with 38 points. They finished the season with only one away win to their name, 2-1 at Gateshead in February, and nine home defeats, more than anyone else in the division.

The programme for the 1953/54 season consisted of twelve pages, roughly half of which were adverts. The front cover was printed in a variety of colours, changing match by match. Pink, yellow or green mostly, and it cost 3d. Printed by Mawers of Darlington. Virtually the only half-time reading material appeared on the front cover under the heading Club Jottings, with news of what had been happening around the club. Other regular features were the half-time scoreboard, a sports quiz, a list of fixtures and results and the team line-ups. Throughout the season, the back page of the programme carried a full page advert for British Railways, listing cheap day return ticket prices enabling supporters in such outposts as Barnard Castle, Catterick Bridge or Richmond to get to the match.

Team v Grimsby : 1 Bill Dunn 2 Ernie Devlin 3 Cliff Mason 4 Ken Furphy 5 Denis Howe 6 Bill Rutherford 7 Harry Clark 8 Jim French 9 Charlie Nicklas 10 Harry Houlahan 11 Les Robson.