Post by Jon on Sept 12, 2009 9:29:40 GMT
I am delighted to hear from Glenn Spencer – as this solves a bit of a mystery for me. I was living abroad at the time of this match – three days after the Crewe game. Ten of the starters are very familiar names, but I did not know until now who Spencer was. The two substitutes – Brown and Forrest are also names that are unfamiliar to me.
The police were very anti-football in the mid to late 80s and arranging Bowl or friendly games between the Devon teams was becoming increasingly difficult – with the policing costs far outweighing gate receipts. Against this background, our Bowl semi with Exeter was given no publicity at all and played at Exeter’s Cat and Fiddle training ground in order to dodge policing costs. The “crowd” was estimated at about thirty.
This was, however, a first team fixture. The Exeter team certainly seems to be full strength. TUFC made three changes from the Crewe game. Gary Wright came in for Jim McNichol, Lee Sharpe came in for Mark Loram and Glenn Spencer came in for Chris Myers. I don’t know if Spencer played at centre back alongside Dave Cole or if Dude Dawkins played centre back with Spencer in midfield.
Perhaps Glenn could clarify this for us? I would also be very interested to know a bit more about Glenn. Where were you brought up – in South Devon or further afield? How did you come to the club and what age were you? Were you a youngster of Lee Sharpe’s vintage trying to earn a YTS contract or were you a little older? Who else, if anyone, did you play for before your stint at TUFC and who did you play for after? I know something about your fellow first team debutant that day Lee Sharpe, but can you shed any light on the substitutes Brown and Forrest?
Looking at the teams that day, TUFC had not one but two future internationals – Sharpe for England and McLoughlin for Ireland. There’s Dobbo – fresh from his life-saving goal, Derek the Legendary Dude, Kenny “mad as a box of frogs” Allen and Tom Kelly who is still playing now – as player-manager for Bovey Tracey.
Exeter’s front two was future TUFC Wembley scorer Deano Edwards and one of their biggest ever legends Tony Kellow. Pugh was ex-Torquay, Harrower’s dad had played for Torquay, Taylor’s brother would play for Torquay and Viney played for us in a pre-season friendly. Marker, Taylor and Robson all went on to bigger and better things. Batty humiliated us by scoring a hat-trick against us on Match of the Day for non-league Yeovil.
Devon Bowl Semi-Final
12th May 1987 at The Cat and Fiddle, Exeter
Attendance c.30
Exeter City 5 Torquay United 1 (h/t 4-0)
Scorers : Edwards, Jackson, Batty, Robson, Harrower. Dobson (pen)
TORQUAY UNITED
Kenny Allen
Gary Wright
Tom Kelly (Brown)
Derek Dawkins
Dave Cole
Glenn Spencer
Mark Gardiner
Paul Dobson
Mario Walsh
Alan McLoughlin
Lee Sharpe ( Forrest)
EXETER CITY
John Shaw
Brendan O’Connell
Keith Viney
Nicky Marker
Shaun Taylor
Paul Batty
Steve Harrower
Dean Edwards
Tony Kellow (Steve Pugh)
Gary Jackson
Mark Robson
The police were very anti-football in the mid to late 80s and arranging Bowl or friendly games between the Devon teams was becoming increasingly difficult – with the policing costs far outweighing gate receipts. Against this background, our Bowl semi with Exeter was given no publicity at all and played at Exeter’s Cat and Fiddle training ground in order to dodge policing costs. The “crowd” was estimated at about thirty.
This was, however, a first team fixture. The Exeter team certainly seems to be full strength. TUFC made three changes from the Crewe game. Gary Wright came in for Jim McNichol, Lee Sharpe came in for Mark Loram and Glenn Spencer came in for Chris Myers. I don’t know if Spencer played at centre back alongside Dave Cole or if Dude Dawkins played centre back with Spencer in midfield.
Perhaps Glenn could clarify this for us? I would also be very interested to know a bit more about Glenn. Where were you brought up – in South Devon or further afield? How did you come to the club and what age were you? Were you a youngster of Lee Sharpe’s vintage trying to earn a YTS contract or were you a little older? Who else, if anyone, did you play for before your stint at TUFC and who did you play for after? I know something about your fellow first team debutant that day Lee Sharpe, but can you shed any light on the substitutes Brown and Forrest?
Looking at the teams that day, TUFC had not one but two future internationals – Sharpe for England and McLoughlin for Ireland. There’s Dobbo – fresh from his life-saving goal, Derek the Legendary Dude, Kenny “mad as a box of frogs” Allen and Tom Kelly who is still playing now – as player-manager for Bovey Tracey.
Exeter’s front two was future TUFC Wembley scorer Deano Edwards and one of their biggest ever legends Tony Kellow. Pugh was ex-Torquay, Harrower’s dad had played for Torquay, Taylor’s brother would play for Torquay and Viney played for us in a pre-season friendly. Marker, Taylor and Robson all went on to bigger and better things. Batty humiliated us by scoring a hat-trick against us on Match of the Day for non-league Yeovil.
Devon Bowl Semi-Final
12th May 1987 at The Cat and Fiddle, Exeter
Attendance c.30
Exeter City 5 Torquay United 1 (h/t 4-0)
Scorers : Edwards, Jackson, Batty, Robson, Harrower. Dobson (pen)
TORQUAY UNITED
Kenny Allen
Gary Wright
Tom Kelly (Brown)
Derek Dawkins
Dave Cole
Glenn Spencer
Mark Gardiner
Paul Dobson
Mario Walsh
Alan McLoughlin
Lee Sharpe ( Forrest)
EXETER CITY
John Shaw
Brendan O’Connell
Keith Viney
Nicky Marker
Shaun Taylor
Paul Batty
Steve Harrower
Dean Edwards
Tony Kellow (Steve Pugh)
Gary Jackson
Mark Robson