Simon Weatherill brings us another game in his popular Memory Match series.  Today, it’s the 4-0 home win against Bury on April 20^th 1996.

The start of any new season is always a time of great optimism and excitement at any football club. The beginning of the 1995/96 season was no exception and provided probably even more excitement than usual. Darlington had just appointed David Hodgson and Jim Platt as their “dream team” management duo. One of their first jobs was to sell Adam Reed to Blackburn Rovers in order to balance the books, and to lift a transfer embargo, which the club found itself under. They then set about reshaping the squad for the coming campaign. One of their first signings was Gary Bannister, who joined the club as player coach. They also signed Phil Brumwell, Mark Barnard and Anthony Carss. Hodgson had previously worked as a football agent and he used his contacts to bring in trialists from far and wide. The club kicked off the new season with two Portuguese players in the squad – Pedro Paulo and Rui Neves.

The team didn’t make the anticipated start to the season and only won one of their first ten games, which left them third from bottom in the table at the end of September. Hodgson even put the whole team up for sale after one particularly poor performance at home to Scarborough. October proved to be a good month though with five straight wins that moved the club up into the play-off positions. Then, just as the season showed signs of really getting going, the club received a massive setback when Hodgson resigned and left Platt in sole charge. Goalkeeper Mike Pollitt was sold to Notts County in a deal done behind Hodgsons back, and he quit, saying that he was sick of the internal politics and that he’d been misled about the club’s financial position. The finances at the club were to play a very important part in the push for promotion. While other promotion contenders spent big in an attempt to secure their positions, the Quakers had to sell yet again to balance the books. Plymouth spent £200,000 on Canadian international Carlo Corazzin, Wigan paid Leicester £125,000 for David Lowe and Darlington sold midfielder Gary Himsworth to York City for £25,000. Himsworth had been an ever present in the side up until his shock transfer in February.

Against all the odds, Darlington remained in the hunt for a promotion place. By the time Bury visited Feethams on April 20th, Darlington sat in sixth place in the table, looking secure in a play-off place, but unlikely to break into the top three automatic places, one of which was held by Bury, who sat seven points ahead of the Quakers. The visitors were in good form having won seven out of their last nine games and knew that a win at Feethams would virtually guarantee them promotion. Mattie Appleby missed the game due to a one match suspension, and his place was taken by Matt Carmichael.

A crowd of 4325 were at Feethams to see the Quakers make a great start to the game. The home fans were celebrating as early as the 13th minute, as their side took a deserved lead. Bury failed to clear a Steve Gaughan corner properly and it was hooked towards the far post by Andy Crosby, where it was met by Matt Carmichael who volleyed into the net past visiting keeper Lee Bracey. In their next attack a Phil Brumwell corner was headed powerfully against the bar by Crosby. In the 17th minute Robbie Blake doubled the home side’s lead. He played a one two with Brumwell down the right before cleverly controlling the return pass and clinically despatching the ball across the keeper into the far corner of the net. Bury rarely threatened, although Pugh and Daws both wasted opportunities for the visitors at the end of the first half. Darlington started the second half in fine style and the game threatened to become a rout. In the 46th minute Gaughan fired a 20-yard shot just wide, and then only a minute later had a strong claim for a penalty turned down.

Blake could then have added to the lead with three chances in quick succession. First he headed straight at the keeper from a Robbie Painter cross, then two minutes later he just failed to slide home a Bannister cross. Then in the 59th minute he hit a superb low 20-yard drive that was tipped away by Bracey. Bury should have found a way back into the game on the hour mark. A long free kick by Jackson was handled in the box by Brumwell, but keeper Paul Newell comfortably saved Mark Carter’s awful spot kick. Darlington continued to outplay their opponents and Painter made it 3-0 in the 67th minute. He latched onto a long through ball from Carmichael and angled a low drive into the bottom corner. Anthony Carss then blazed inches wide from just outside the box and Blake shaved the bar with a blistering effort at the end of a mazy run. The fourth goal eventually arrived and it was Painter again with his second of the afternoon. He ran onto a clever angled pass from Gaughan to beat Bracey with ease from 10 yards out. There was still time for Blake to go close with a shot across goal and for Bannister to shave the upright with a 20-yard drive.

The 4-0 victory left the Quakers still in with a chance of automatic promotion. Three games remained and they were four points behind Bury. They won their next two games (1-0 at Hereford and 3-1 at home to Chester) to lift them above Bury and into third place. A win at Scunthorpe on the final day of the season would guarantee promotion. Unfortunately, things didn’t go according to plan and a 3-3 draw at Scunthorpe enabled Bury to grab third place and condemn the Quakers to the play-offs. Unusually, it was dodgy home form that had cost Darlington promotion. They had an amazing away record of only one defeat all season (at Chester in November), but had lost seven times at Feethams. Incredibly this included home defeats to Cardiff, Scarborough and Torquay – the teams that would finish the season occupying the bottom three places in the table.

The programme for the 1995/96 season consisted of 36 pages, cost £1.30, and was designed and printed by Mawers Talbot Print. Inside were From The Bench – the managers column, Chairman’s Comments by Bernard Lowery, three pages on our opponents, a page of supporters club news, match facts for first team, junior and reserve teams, Quaker Action with photos from a recent game and there were the usual, always interesting articles by Frank Tweddle - Past Encounters with our opponents, latest News on Division 3 and Reminiscing, describing previous games played on the same date in history. The team line-ups were on the back cover.        

Team v Bury : 1 Paul Newell 2 Phil Brumwell 3 Mark Barnard 4 Matt Carmichael 5 Andy Crosby 6 Sean Gregan 7 Gary Bannister 8 Steve Gaughan 9 Robbie Painter 10 Robbie Blake 11 Anthony Carss Subs 12 Simon Shaw (replaced Brumwell, 82 mins) 13 Paul Mattison (replaced Carss, 89 mins) 14 Gary Twynham (not used).