Simon Weatherill presents another in his Memory Match series – the home game against Torquay United on October 2^nd 1992.

The 1992/93 season kicked off with Billy McEwan in the manager’s seat at Feethams. The previous four seasons had been eventful to say the least. Relegation out of the Football League, followed by back to back Conference and Division Four championships, followed immediately by relegation back to where Quakers had started. 1992/93 was the first year of the Premier League, with all divisions subsequently being renamed, so although the Quakers had been relegated from Division Three at the end of the previous season, they found themselves in the NEW Division Three. McEwan had been appointed in the summer after seeing off competition from John Bird, Viv Busby, David McCreery, Kevan Smith and Ray Hankin for the job. (Hankin had been in temporary charge since the sacking of Frank Gray in the previous February.) McEwan had formerly managed Rotherham and Sheffield United and came with a reputation as a strict disciplinarian.

The team made a mixed start to the new season with two wins and two defeats in the first five games but then three defeats on the trot had dropped the club to bottom place in the league table with seven points from eight games. (Teams level on points were separated by goals scored, rather than goal difference. Five teams had 7 points, but the Quakers had only scored 7 goals, the lowest total in the league.) The next game, at home to Torquay, would take place on Friday October 2nd. The Quakers had switched some of their early home games to Friday nights as an experiment to try and increase attendances, the idea being not to clash with Middlesbrough home games in the Premier League. Boro were at home to Manchester United on the Saturday afternoon so Torquay would have the long journey up to Feethams to play on a Friday night.

McEwan had selection problems for the game. Skipper Kevan Smith (with a calf injury), Mark Sunley (ankle), Anthony Isaacs (flu) and Gary Hinchley (knee) would all definitely miss the game. There were also doubts about keeper Mark Prudhoe with an injured hip, Steve Mardenborough with a knee injury and Ian Juryeff with a back strain, but the three of them were expected to play. Steve Tupling had been signed on a short term contract to provide cover for Hinchley and Sunley and he was expected to play at full back against one of his former clubs. Striker Mark Dobie had also previously played for Torquay and would be looking to get one over on his former employers. The visitors would include Justin Fashanu in their line-up, the much travelled striker having been appointed as assistant manager during the summer.

Friday night football in a bid to increase attendances didn’t seem to work as only 1423 hardy fans turned out at a rain soaked Feethams to see the Torquay game. They saw the Quakers make a bright start to the game and with better luck could have had two goals in the opening five minutes. First Steve Mardenborough crashed a header into the side netting from a Nick Pickering free kick, then moments later Mark Dobie’s cross from the left was met by a flying Ian Juryeff header, but visiting keeper Lowe reacted well to save. Torquay always looked dangerous on the break and Colcombe went close but his goal bound shot was brilliantly blocked by a brave Mardenborough challenge. Then Fashanu was unlucky with a powerful header that went straight into Mark Prudhoe’s arms.

The Quakers were well on top though and Mardenborough brought another good save out of Lowe, then Mark Dobie curled a shot just wide. The opening goal of the game came on 28 minutes and was scored completely against the run of play as the visitors took the lead. Sean Joyce received a throw in from Hall and rifled in a low shot from the edge of the area, that skidded off the wet surface past the helpless Prudhoe. Quakers’ confidence visibly drained and it wasn’t until the second half that they posed any real threat again. They equalised from the penalty spot on 53 minutes. Steve Gaughan sent Mardenborough away down the right and his cross fell to Dobie, whose shot was blocked. In the ensuing goalmouth scramble Juryeff was upended by Gardiner. Dobie calmly sent Lowe the wrong way from the spot to record his first Quakers goal.

Confidence came flooding back and 15 minutes later the home side were in front, Tim Parkin getting his first for the club with a header from a Pickering free kick. The Quakers were now well on top and Mardenborough, O’Shaughnessy and Dobson all went close before Mardenborough made it 3-1 in the 80th minute. Gaughan and Juryeff combined on the half way line to send the speedy winger racing clear down the right to score with a powerful low shot, fired under the advancing keeper. There was still time for substitute Andy Toman to add a fourth goal, collecting the ball 25 yards out and picking his way through a crowded area to score a brilliant solo goal.

Incredibly, once Saturday’s results were taken into account, the 4-1 win lifted the Quakers eight places in the table, up to 14th. They spent the rest of the season hovering just below mid table, never really in danger at the bottom, but also never really threatening to break into the top half of the table towards the play off places. They finished the season in 15th place with 50 points from their 42 games. The Torquay game was the last of three to be switched to a Friday night, as the anticipated increase in attendances never materialised. This probably had very little to do with a clash with Boro home games and a lot to do with the Quakers’ poor home form. They suffered 10 defeats in 21 games at Feethams and only gained 21 points at home, compared to 29 won away from home.

The programme for the 1992/93 season had 28 pages and cost £1. There were regular columns by manager Billy McEwan, skipper Tim Parkin, football in the community officer Iain Leckie and various members of the boardroom. Also team line-ups, three pages on our opponents, a page of supporters club news, a page entitled Talking Soccer, discussing national football stories of the week and the usual match facts for first team, juniors and reserves. There were the usual, always interesting articles by Frank Tweddle - Past Encounters with our opponents, latest News on Division 3 and Match Date, describing previous games played on the same date in history.

Team v Torquay : 1 Mark Prudhoe 2 Steve Tupling 3 Nick Pickering 4 Steve Gaughan 5 Tim Parkin 6 Steve O’Shaughnessy 7 Steven Ball 8 Steve Mardenborough 9 Ian Juryeff 10 Mark Dobie 11 Alan Dowson Subs 12 Paul Dobson (replaced Dowson, 63 mins) 14 Andy Toman (replaced Ball, 54 mins)