Torquay 7 Swindon 0 9/2/57

Jon, thanks very much for finding this and putting it on here. I'm not sure why you should feel that I need cheering up, nevertheless it was good to read the report which has brought the memories flooding back.

Match reports in the H&E were far more detailed in those days than they are now, and this one perfectly conveyed our dominance throughout the entire game. I can only remember one other match, a 5-0 win against Chester in November 1963, which surpassed this one in that respect. Somehow, though, it fails to describe the fourth and fifth goals, which were a thumping shot by Ron Shaw followed by a bizarre own goal by Swindon's left back.

We scored no fewer than 71 goals at home in that season, and the wingers, Shaw and Tony Collins, often ran riot and set up so many of Sam Collins' goals. One unusual event in the game was a headed goal by Sam Collins, which was very rare. The reason why so many goals were scored in those days, I believe, was that defensive plans or tactics were unheard of. Defenders were simply expected to remain in their positions and deal with whatever opponent came into their space. Many of Sam Collins' goals were scored when he was able to drift into yards of space and he was a deadly finisher. He also owed much to the robust presence of Harold Dobbie, who took all of the knocks, and this was probably Dobbie's finest game. Don Mills also had an outstanding game, and I felt sorry for Mervyn Gill, one of the club's all time great goalkeepers, who was virtually an observer throughout.

This was the season which ended in despair for Torquay fans, as we were denied promotion by goal average by Ipswich on the very last day. It could be said that we had only ourselves to blame, as we scored only 18 goals away from home. Curiously, after beating Millwall 7-2 at home earlier in the season, we later lost to them by the same score at the Den.

They don't bother me at all really, in fact one of two of them, with whom I had a few spats some time ago, now have much more of my respect. I'm not sure if you noticed, as you seem to restrict your comments to the football, but I was recently enraged by the proprietor of BTPIR, on his own site admittedly, referring to the Queen with some extremely vile and disgusting epithets. Needless to say, I shall never visit that site again.