The Posh V The Bees

Hi Thorney. It seems we are the main contributors on our respective sites.

I thought you might like this little bit of nostalgia. The first 'proper' game I saw was Swindon v Peterborough, Good Friday 1963. I was 14. I write some pieces for an STFC website, mainly about stuff from the year dot which hardly anybody reads. Here's an excerpt from my ramblings on the 62/63 season, the first time we ever got promoted.

'The first Swindon Town game I can remember was against Crystal Palace in 1958, I was 9. I had been to the County Ground before with my Dad but apparently all I did was run up and down the terraces so he gave up taking me. I went to the Palace game with my friend Roger and his Dad; we stood in the old stand on the half way line, near the front so we could see. Before the game started, Roger’s Dad gave us some curious advice telling us that if the ball came in our direction we should duck down behind the barrier as the players kicked the ball very hard. This puzzled me. When we played football at school we kicked the ball in the direction of the goal, usually, but not always, the opponents’. Why would the players be kicking the ball sideways?

It turned out to be good advice as the ball seemed to come flying in our direction quite frequently in what turned out to be a dire 0-0 draw. It was an exciting experience though, with a crowd of over 10,000 and lots of shouting and hollering going on. Our average gate then was over 12,000 and a strong finish to the season saw us finish in fourth place. It was important to finish in the top half as this was the season when the Third Divisions North and South were replaced by Divisions Three and Four. We duly ended up in the Third.

It wasn’t until a few years later that I became a regular supporter. In the 1962/63 season the Town were going well with an exciting young team and people were talking about the possibility of a first ever promotion. On a glorious Good Friday 1963 we were at home to Peterborough United in a crunch game. I went with my Dad and his friend but because we had to wait for someone else who didn’t turn up we were late leaving for the game. This turned out to be catastrophic because with a crowd of over 23,000 there was massive congestion at the turnstiles. I was still in the queue when I heard a huge roar from inside the ground as Ernie Hunt put us in front in the first minute. My frustration was total, all the more so when I finally got in the ground in the far corner of Stratton Bank with a view of less than half the pitch. I would have cheerfully murdered the unknown person who had caused us to be late.

Then everything went wrong. Peterborough equalised, then went in front and eventually ran out 3-2 winners. I was desolate. This was the era when Easter brought three fixtures in four days so at least the chance existed to put things right quickly. A 6-1 demolition of Colchester the following day did much to lift our spirits and give us some optimism for the return game at Peterborough on Easter Monday. It wasn’t to be. We were well beaten 1-3. The following Saturday we went down 0-2 at Notts County. Everything had gone wrong; we weren’t going to go up this season. We’d blown it.'

For the record your scorers were Peter McNamee, Roy Horobin and John Turley. We did actually go up, in second place, after winning four and drawing two of our last six games.

Thank you for that Don - very interesting. I don't go back that far with the Posh, as I only moved to the Peterborough area in 1986 (having been bought up in football-less Surrey and then gone to university in Leeds, followed by a few years in the west country). You have obviously been following Swindon through all their ups and downs (including their glorious First Division years). It's always quite a journey following one team. Apart from the Wolves faithful, there aren't many League One contributors, so good on you for coming onto the Posh site. I wish you a happy start to 2014, and hope for snow-free entertaining JPT ties between our two sides in February. It will be interesting to see if you sign Ajose and retain the services of Pritchard in January

I see Nicky Ajose has returned to you and is likely to be in the squad for tomorrow. He scored 10 in 21 starts for us, a very decent striking record by any standards. He scored for us against Brentford on Boxing Day, perhaps if he comes of the bench he can do it again for you!

It seems that Jaanai Gordon-Hutton is definitely to sign for West Ham. Good luck to him. What confounds me a little is that if he is good enough to play for West Ham, why hasn't he been playing for the Posh first team this season. I guess that being away on trial can be a protracted business.

A filthy New Year morning, with rain pouring and set to continue to pour. Here's hoping the game is not called off/abandoned. It's weather conditions for heroics, so here's hoping Posh's heroes prevail.

UTP!

Stevenage down the road off ...

Setting off now ...

C'mon the Posh!

An entertaining game in the end in tricky conditions. Brentford looked a good side, however, their scoring of a third goal was cruel. Ajose (back temporarily?) played in place of the suspended Tomlin and looked the better for his time at Swindon. Super-sub Mendez-Laing was absent again from the bench, although we could have done with his services. It looks like he and Tyrone Barnett are on their way out of London Road, hopefully to be replaced with some better quality players. With 22 games to go, Fergie still fancies our chances of promotion. He (and I) would be delighted with a JPT Final appearance, a good FA Cup run and promotion via the play-offs.

We play each other in our next League 1 fixture on 11th January...looks like we'll both have seen some departures and hopefully arrivals by then. Will Ajose play? Who for? We'll certainly have lost Pritchard by then, Foderingham too I expect. Watch this space.

TP happy new year, normally at the halfway stage of the season,teams are where they deserve to be!!
Sorry but think play-offs is your best hope.It might be for us as well,we are top which is good,just hope we can stay there.

A Happy New Year to you too, TF. The Championship is tough, tough. I really hope that you are able to maintain your automotatic promotion position and push until May. I can only hope that we will be vying with Don's team for one of the League One play-off final places.