Lockdown Trivia -Dim Day Out At Milton Road

Milton Road

Re-visiting a Corby programme from the 90’s and recalling a day out at Cambridge City in 1986. The 86/87 season was the club’s second at the Rockingham Triangle arena and the first under the stewardship of ex Mansfield, Peterborough defender and former Kings Lynn manager, Colin Foster. This was also the season when former Scotland and Nottingham Forest European Cup winner John Robertson graced us 
with his presence for a few months. Goalkeeper Tim Garner also joined us from Kidderminster and

Colin Foster

became a huge favourite with the BOTS. Indeed, many thought he should have been selected for the England team this season. ‘Fozzie’ also dragged a few of his pals along from Lynn to make a contribution. Steve Hines, Martin Twigger and Tim Gale. Later on Clive Adams would also make the switch and looked a fine acquisition, when he was fit. Disappointingly he was crocked most of the short time he was here. The side was also boosted when Foster signed the experienced Pat Rayment from Cambridge United and Paul Curtis from the Cobblers. Pat would eventually be able to look back on his Steelmen career and claim to be the club record holder for the number of red cards received. Can’t remember how many to be honest, lost track! Fine player he was though. Wholehearted, fiery. Big favourite when he remained on the pitch. Paul Curtis added a lot of class to the side, silky smooth player, tenacious in the tackle, cool under pressure. He was also better known by the nickname bestowed on him by the BOTS - Saddam - for his uncanny likeness to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. For all this, results were pish. 13 games had yielded just 11 points out of a possible 39 when we had a visit to Cambridge City coming up. It would soon be 11 from 14 games! This was the game I recalled in the programme when City visited the Triangle in 1994. 

                                             A Dim Day Out At Milton Road 

 ‘A day watching the Steelmen at Cambridge City back on November 29th 1986 can only be described at best, as extraordinary. A car load of us made the short trip to see Corby, then under the command of Colin Foster, hoping at least to see a fair effort from our boys in the quest of some much needed points. Lingering at third bottom of the table, there hadn’t been much to shout home about of late. Still, optimism is a fair trait of a Steelmen supporter and this day would be no different. Arriving in Cambridgeshire, slightly ahead of schedule, pre match refreshment was sought and a search for the club bar ensued. It being a cold, damp day, the cosiness of the lounge welcomed us, deserted as it was, except for a lone barman going about his business, drying glasses. An enthusiastic ‘four pints of bitter please’ was greeted with a stony silence before the barman downed his towel and left the bar without a word. ‘What’d I say?’ I asked my companions. Four or five minutes later, the barman returned, took up position and said ‘four pints of bitter’. And a good day to you and all I thought. A few pints later, we left the bar and found that if we thought the welcome there was a wee bit off, the rest of the afternoon didn’t promise much better. Fog had descended to dampen the spirits a little, but we remained optimistic. Colin Foster had sprung a surprise with his team selection by making a few changes and reshaping the back four. A couple of new faces were on show as well in the shape of midfielder Ray Birch from Rushden and centre half John Flower, a big raw boned fellow from the reserve team. However, the new look defence of Elwyn Roberts at right back, Foster and Flower in the middle and Alan McIllwain at left back soon looked totally inadequate as Cambridge raced into a three goal lead before half time, Roberts having possibly his worst game ever in a Corby shirt. Foster looked pathetically unfit, Flower looked as rough as as you could look whilst McIllwain looked every inch a man playing out of position. “There’s a long way to go’ we decided as we headed for some half time tea, and oh yes, the chips did smell nice. Just what we needed to warm ourselves up. “Pie and chips’ I ventured to the lady in the hut. With that, she looked at her partner and said ‘what did e’ say?’ 'Christ I don’t sound that bad, do I?' I asked my pals now curling up with laughter. The usual suspects, Yozzer Hughes and his brother Barry. This is some day this is turning out to be, I thought. Anyway, Colin Foster obviously realised there was something wrong with his tactics during the intermission and he switched things around for the second half. Suddenly, Corby found themselves back in the game as first, Steve Hines was fouled in the area and Birch scored from the penalty spot. Roberts then blazed way over the bar from a matter of feet and then David Hofbauer reduced the deficit a little further a couple of minutes after that. Only 3-2 now and the travelling fans were getting ecstatic. ‘Take the piss Corby!’ the familiar war cry came out. On reflection it was perhaps that which stirred City back into action again, as three goals in as many minutes put to rest that idea. It was maybe as well we couldn’t see a lot of what was going on with the fog getting thicker by the minute. We did however see the final goal as in the last minute, Martin Twigger appeared out of the mist and planted the ball past the City keeper to make it 6-3. If nothing else, nine goals was value for money, even if we didn’t see half of them. 

Martin Twigger waiting for a cross to twitch the ball into the net with his head.

We headed for the bar again, only to find that this time, admission was not being granted for reasons unknown, and then a friendly debate began between ourselves and some gathering City supporters. One chap, obviously oblivious to the benefit of shampoo and changing you razor blades now and again joined in the conversation. With the white stuff covering his shoulders I tried a bit of humour at the fellow’s expense by asking him if it was snowing outside. He turned to me, with bike clips still round his ankles which looked a little amusing and replied, ‘no, but it is in Cardiff!’ Everybody fell around laughing as I tried to work out the significance of that one and gave up. With that, all was lost and it was a bemused bunch of Steelmen fans that trudged off home. Altogether, a strange day. Corby’s team that was battered was Tim Garner, Roberts, McIIlain, Paul Curtis, Flower, Foster, Tim Gale, Birch, Twigger, Hofbauer and Hines. Pat O’Keefe was the unused sub.’ 

 Looking back from a distance, this was quite an amazing game, had to be with nine goals I guess but it was one of those typical miserable damp November days. A real pea-souper. Sort of days I remember often at Occupation Road when the the ground was covered in smog. A mixture of mist and the crap from the steelworks polluting the air. The character in the bar afterwards too I remember. Though I’m not sure who was taking the piss the most here! His reply about ‘snowing in Cardiff’ threw me I have to admit! Good laugh all the same and that was and is, what following football, at this level in particular, is all about. My companions on the day, Yozzer Hughes and his brother Barry, ‘Baz’, and also Martin Donnelly and his pal, big feller can’t recall his name now, were there and were always great company and ready for a crack. Thinking of the barman before the game, when he disappeared when we had asked him for four pints, and he left us standing there looking like plums, recalls a similar scenario at Rushden’s Hayden Road ground following a Senior Cup match in the early 80’s. Quick pint or two was called for afterwards in the bar to celebrate our 2-1 victory. Packed with the smiling faces of Steelmen supporters, I asked the barmaid for five pints and Barry, sizing up the situation, immediately told her to serve up five more! She looked horrified and in disbelief. ‘Are you taking the piss?” she growled, looking like a bulldog chewing a wasp! Happy days!

John Robertson with European Cup.

'Saddam'. Paul Curtis.