In the latest of his Memory Match series, Simon Weatherill tells us about the thrilling 5-1 home win against Grimsby Town on December 26^th 1970.

As the 1970s dawned, things were changing at Darlington Football Club and around them in the football world. The Quakers finished the 69/70 season in 22nd place in Division 4 and had to apply for re-election. The old pals’ act that had safeguarded the league positions of perennial strugglers was coming to an end, as the non league clubs trying to take their places were finally beginning to get organised, putting forward only two or three recommended candidates, rather than the free for all that had existed in previous years. As a result, Darlington (with 47 votes), Hartlepool (42) and Newport (31) were safely re-elected, but Bradford Park Avenue lost their league status by polling only 17 votes and being beaten by Cambridge United with 31 votes. Darlington simply dare not finish in the bottom four again.

Len Richley took over as manager of the club and his only significant signing of the summer was to bring in centre forward Peter Graham from Barnsley. The team made an excellent start to the 70/71 season and were unbeaten in their first eight games (3 wins, 5 draws) that put the club on the fringes of the promotion race. Off the field things weren’t looking so good, and the club made an impassioned plea for better support. They were reported to be losing £1000 per week and used the home game with Northampton on October 24 to highlight their problem. The game had produced total gate receipts of £556, of which £200 went to the visiting club and £100 on match expenses, leaving £256 to meet wages etc. It cost approximately £1250 per week to run the team. The message was clear. The club needed better support or professional football in the town couldn’t continue.

At a board meeting at the end of November, chairman Alderman Harry Robinson stepped down after six years at the helm and was replaced by Newcastle businessman George Tait, who guaranteed the financial future of the club for at least three years. 

Whether it was as a result of the plea for more support, or due to the fact that the team was doing well, attendances did improve slightly. A run of seven wins in eleven games kept the team near the top of the table and maintained the interest of the spectators, home attendances hovering around the 3,500 mark. By the time Grimsby Town visited Feethams on Boxing Day 1970, the Quakers sat in fourth place in the Division 4 table, with 10 wins and 8 draws from their 22 games so far.

In front of a festive crowd of 4265 it was the visitors, Grimsby, who made the better start to the game. Three times in the opening minutes they carved out shooting opportunities that resulted in two efforts flying just wide and a third forcing a good save out of Tony Moor in the home goal. The Quakers very quickly gained control of the game though, with wingers Allan Gauden and Alan Harding causing the visitors defence all sorts of problems, and once the home side had grabbed the lead, there was only ever going to be one winner. Gauden opened the scoring with a clever flicked header. Good work down the right by John Peverell and Ken Hale led to a Hale cross to the near post which was met by Gauden who darted across in front of surprised defenders and headed over the stranded keeper, Harry Wainman. Now in complete command, the Quakers looked dangerous every time they attacked and Wainman had to pull off several fine saves to keep his goal intact. But a minute before half time he was beaten again. Gauden sent Harding clear and he shook off the attentions of a Grimsby defender before firing an angled drive wide of the advancing keeper. Six minutes into the second half it was 3-0. Harding picking his spot from the edge of the box and firing home after the ball broke to him out of a crowded goalmouth.

A minute later the home side suffered a setback when Hale had to leave the field for treatment to an injured arm, suffered when he was sent crashing to the ground after a late tackle. While he was off the field Grimsby pulled a goal back when Matt Tees shot through a crowded goalmouth, the ball taking a deflection off his team mate Stuart Brace on its way into the net. Hale was soon back in action, although clearly suffering some discomfort, and the Quakers resumed their onslaught, restoring their three goal lead with Gauden’s second of the game, another header after a Harding cross from the right.

Twice Harding hit the woodwork with shots as he searched for his hat trick. It finally came in the 73rd minute when Gauden outstripped the Grimsby defence and Harding met his perfect cross to drive a low shot into the net. Not content with his first hat trick for the club, Harding crashed home another goal but Hale was adjudged to be offside when he stepped over the ball on the goal line.

The 5-1 win kept the Quakers in fourth place. It was one of the best performances of the season and at times Gauden and Harding were simply unplayable. It was the second home game running that Darlington had hit five goals (previously beating Chester 5-1 on Dec 5) and those two victories helped manager Len Richley win manager of the month for December. (For which he received a gallon of whisky.) There was bad news after the game though when it was revealed that Ken Hale had played for most of the second half with a broken arm! The injury kept him out of the next eight games during which time the Quakers suffered five defeats, which saw them drop down the table, out of the promotion places. Momentum had been lost and the team never really recovered, finishing the season in twelfth place with 45 points.

The programme for the 1970/71 season cost 1 shilling (or 5 new pence after February 15 when the country went decimal) and consisted of 16 pages, of which more than half were adverts. It was a standard format for this period in the club’s history. The layout of the programme didn’t vary from the mid 60s to the early 70s, only the front cover changed. This season it featured a drawing of three players and was printed in various colours. (White, green, yellow, pink or blue.) The programme comprised of an editorial piece, an action photo of a previous match, half time scoreboard, a star spot, pen pictures of the opposition, fixtures, results and tables for first team and reserves, appearances, goalscorers and attendances for the current season along with today’s team line ups on the centre pages.

Team v Grimsby : 1 Tony Moor 2 John Peverell 3 Billy Horner 4 Peter Carr 5 Brian Albeson 6 Mick Wright 7 Allan Gauden 8 Ken Hale 9 Maurice Peddelty 10 Peter Graham 11 Alan Harding.