Memory Lane 50 Years ago Today- 1971-72 Promotion Season - Wednesday 3 May 1972 - We finish as runners up! - Southend United 2 Gillingham 2

[ozzie]

Remember that we started off poorly,but forgot it was this poor.Lucky we did not have Shrimper zone then,otherwise loads would be calling for AR head already

 

[Suffolk Shrimper In Dorset]

50 years ago SUFC toured Russia. We have been in touch with players from that tour and their memories have been incorporated in to a write up by our Russian friends which we have had translated and posted up on our Facebook page. It makes for a lovely read. https://facebook.com/SUEPAssoc

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

50 years ago SUFC toured Russia. We have been in touch with players from that tour and their memories have been incorporated in to a write up by our Russian friends which we have had translated and posted up on our Facebook page. It makes for a lovely read. https://facebook.com/SUEPAssoc

I've still got ( somewhere ) an article with pics of that trip in a prog or something else. I'll have a look tomorrow to hopefully find it.

 

[Suffolk Shrimper In Dorset]

I've still got ( somewhere ) an article with pics of that trip in a prog or something else. I'll have a look tomorrow to hopefully find it.

That may well be the one that we put up page by page on the SUEPA FB page about a month ago - you can scroll down the page to check and if your pics are different please do share

 

[mfurok]

I think we all were - we’d finished the previous season really well, had beaten 2 division Millwall in a pre season friendly 4-1 and had a settled side. Seems bizarre now we had a squad of only 16 players including 4 teenagers and only one goalkeeper.

Interesting that 17 of those teams have subsequently played in non-league.

Eight are back but nine aren’t………

 

[mfurok]

I've still got ( somewhere ) an article with pics of that trip in a prog or something else. I'll have a look tomorrow to hopefully find it.

There was a souvenir brochure produced.

 

[LBBlue]

Interesting that 17 of those teams have subsequently played in non-league.

Eight are back but nine aren’t………

The 7 who have avoided it are Brentford, Reading, Peterborough, Scunthorpe, Crewe, Northampton and Gillingham.

The 9 are Us, Darlington, Workington, Grimsby, Southport, Stockport, Aldershot, Chester and Bury.

Plus

Notts County, Chesterfield, Halifax, York, Torquay and Wrexham.

 

[LBBlue]

The 15 who are in in place are Wigan, Wycombe, Wimbledon, Burton, Cheltenham, Forest Green, Harrogate, Sutton, Salford, Crawley, Stevenage, Accrington, Morecambe, Fleetwood and MK Dons

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

That may well be the one that we put up page by page on the SUEPA FB page about a month ago - you can scroll down the page to check and if your pics are different please do share

I had a brief look for it today, but couldn't find it!. Annoying thing is, i only stumbled upon it a few weeks ago.
I'll have a more comprehensive search sometime this week.

 

[mfurok]

I had a brief look for it today, but couldn't find it!. Annoying thing is, i only stumbled upon it a few weeks ago.
I'll have a more comprehensive search sometime this week.

I can find it but I wouldn’t know how to upload it?

 

[Suffolk Shrimper In Dorset]

I can find it but I wouldn’t know how to upload it?

It's on the SUEPA Facebook page, albeit page by page rather than as one document.

Click on THIS and then scroll down about 20 posts to one on 31 July and you'll see it there.

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

I can find it but I wouldn’t know how to upload it?

Join the club!.?

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

It's on the SUEPA Facebook page, albeit page by page rather than as one document.

Click on THIS and then scroll down about 20 posts to one on 31 July and you'll see it there.

I've had a look on SUEPA, def recognise the pic of all the players sitting on the wall, but can't for the life of me, remember where i saw it/them?.

 

[sufc_statto]

Saturday September 11, 1971 - Division 4
Aldershot (0) 0
Southend Utd (0) 0
Venue: Recreation Ground, Aldershot. KO: 3.00
Attendance: 4,611

Aldershot: G Gurr, R Walden, R Joslyn, R Walton, R Dean, H Bennett, M Brodie, D Brown, J Howarth, J Melia, J Sydenham (T Pearce).
Southend Utd: J Roberts, R Ternent, A Smith, D Elliott, B Albeson, J Jacques, T Johnson, B Best, B Garner, G Duck (P Taylor 75'), B Lewis.

Match Report
The Southend United players were left reflecting on the “Ones that got away” after their trip to Aldershot last weekend. They should have returned home clear cut winners but all they had to show for their labours was a series of near misses and a point.

It was poor reward for the pressure they exerted but the truth is that United were victims of their own inability to take advantage of the chances which came their way.

The pattern for Blues dominance was set as early as the third minute when Joe Jacques saw an effort fly inches over the bar. From then until the break, United were left shaking their heads in anguish as shots went the wrong side of the target.

On a couple of occasions only the magnificence of Aldershot goalkeeper Gerry Gurr prevented Southend ‘grabbing an early goal. In the space of three minutes he took off to tip a George Duck header over the bar and then flung himself at the foot of the post to turn away a vicious Bill Garner drive.

But for the most part Blues were victims of their own failings up front, lacking the steadiness and accuracy which would have seen them counting their winning bonus at the Interval.

Terry Johnson (later booked for a foul on sub Trevor Pearce), Garner and Duck all missed reasonable opportunities after the Aldershot defence had been prised open with comparative ease.

It was the same story early in the second half and United were nearly made to pay for their failings.

The game was over an hour old when the home attack burst into positive action for the first time. Their sudden menace all but brought them two goals in the space of three minutes.

Jack Howarth, for once escaping the close attention of Brian Albeson, leapt to power a header against the bar, and then Alex Smith saved the day by heading out a Murray Brodie effort from beneath the bar.

These moments apart, however, United never looked like surrendering the control they exerted at the back. Ray Ternent proved a capable stand-in at full-back for the injured Keith Lindsey in a defence which covered and fought well.

Albeson and Smith usually won most of the duels In the air while Billy Best, Johnson and Dave Elliott, apart from a short spell midway through the second half, were also in command of midfield.

It was a superiority which should have led to goals but didn’t.

In a final gamble to pull off victory, Spud Taylor left the substitute’s bench to replace Duck for the final quarter of an hour. But his presence failed to add that extra bite in sight of goal.

One can only hope it can be found against Grimsby tomorrow (Friday) night, otherwise the fans will be doomed to another evening of frustration.

League Table

 

[LBBlue]

League game number 6 and it was back to Aldershot for our third game of the season against them out of 8.

George Duck kept his place covering for Gary Moore and Ray Ternant switched to full back for Keith Lindsey. The second change from the Bury game saw Bernie Lewis playing his first game of the season with Peter Taylor moving back to the bench.

Aldershot were proving hard to beat - this was their 5th draw in 8 games. They had just been thrashed 5-1 at Forest in the League Cup.

Their manager Jimmy Melia said we were the best side they had faced this season but with Billy Best in midfield we didn’t have our shooting boots and a second successive 0-0 resulted. So we just had 1 win from 8 games with unbeaten League leaders Grimsby due at Roots Hall next as we got back to Friday football night.

 

[LCBB72]

League game number 6 and it was back to Aldershot for our third game of the season against them out of 8.

George Duck kept his place covering for Gary Moore and Ray Ternant switched to full back for Keith Lindsey. The second change from the Bury game saw Bernie Lewis playing his first game of the season with Peter Taylor moving back to the bench.

Aldershot were proving hard to beat - this was their 5th draw in 8 games. They had just been thrashed 5-1 at Forest in the League Cup.

Their manager Jimmy Melia said we were the best side they had faced this season but with Billy Best in midfield we didn’t have our shooting boots and a second successive 0-0 resulted. So we just had 1 win from 8 games with unbeaten League leaders Grimsby due at Roots Hall next as we got back to Friday football night.

I dont remember any of the supporters being down hearted .

 

[LBBlue]

I dont remember any of the supporters being down hearted .

The Bury match report says the players were slow handclapped by a large part of the crowd. After 2 poor seasons we weren’t losing as much!

 

[LCBB72]

The Bury match report says the players were slow handclapped by a large part of the crowd. After 2 poor seasons we weren’t losing as much!

I do not remember that , but we were 2 games into a unbeaten run of 8 games and we were about to go pop the next game v Grimsby .

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

The Bury match report says the players were slow handclapped by a large part of the crowd. After 2 poor seasons we weren’t losing as much!

All i remember about that game, was it finished 0-0, & the attendance was under 6,000. Our lowest crowd of the season?.

 

[LBBlue]

Friday 17th September 1971.

With the start of just the one win in 8 games - next up against the Shrimpers were a team that we’ve shared fortunes and misfortunes with over the subsequent years.

Unbeaten League leaders Grimsby Town came to Roots Hall.
They had already beaten Scunthorpe and Brentford - the other two teams that got promoted with us and Grimsby.

Former Grimsby player, Gary Moore returned to the side in place of George Duck which meant a line up of:

Roberts, Ternent, Smith, Elliott, Albeson, Jacques, Johnson, Best, Garner, Moore, Lewis.

This became our starting line up in 14 of the next 17 league and Cup games.

Grimsby were without their leading score Matt Tees, but did include Stuart Brace and Dave Worthington who later joined us. Owen Simpson was on their bench.

They were managed by Lawrie McMenemy who went on the manage Southampton.

Anyway, I think Billy Best had been pushed up along side Garner and he hit the bar after just 15 seconds. Grimsby however took the lead 2 minutes before half time so we trailed 1-0 at the break and things were not looking good.

But after the break things turned for the better:

49 minutes King Billy heads in a Bernie Lewis cross
66 minutes King Billy heads in a long ball from Ray Ternent
74 minutes King Billy shoots home to complete his hat trick.

So there we were- on our way. Only 6,211 witnessed the game between the sides that eventually finished first and second.

The match started a run of 18 home wins in 19 league and cup games with only one defeat (4-1 to Col U).

The fun was just starting.