In April 1936 an injury ravaged Luton side prepared to take on Bristol Rovers at Kenilworth Road, with manager Ned Liddell forced into playing reserve wing-half Joe Payne upfront, a position Payne had never played in at first team level. He certainly took to it like a duck to water though as he managed to bag himself an astonishing 10 goals in Luton's 12-0 win, that feat breaking the previous individual record in a Football League game of nine. Payne, a former Derbyshire coal miner, was only 22 that day and he would go on to score a remarkable 55 goals for the Hatters the following season, and 83 goals in 72 games for Luton overall before he joined Chelsea for £2,000 in 1938. Payne having already earned his one and only England international cap by that point as he scored twice in a 8-0 friendly win over Finland. Payne's career though ruined by World War Two, with him only spending a short spell, before he retired, at West Ham when hostilities ended. In April 1898 a test match between Stoke and Burnley would decide promotion and relegation issues between the two existing divisions. Blackburn and Newcastle were the other teams involved but on the morning of the game Stoke and Burnley were joint top of the mini-league and a draw would ensure that both sides would escape the drop. And, somewhat unsurprisingly, that is exactly the result that happened in a 0-0 stalemate that didn't contain one shot on goal. Both goalkeepers hardly had a touch of the ball in the match and if a forward did find himself in a shooting position then he would aim for the corner flag (was Kevin Gall playing?). The 4,000 strong crowd that had showed up at Stoke's Victoria Ground soon cottoned on to what was taking place in horrendous weather conditions though and they started to hold onto the ball when it went into the stand. Five balls eventually being got through before the end of the game. The actions of the crowd leading to the linesman on the Boothen Side of the ground trying to catch a ball before it disappeared off into the spectators. A policeman had the same idea though and there was a large cheer from the crowd as the two ran into each other in traditional comedy fashion. The authorities didn't see the funny side of things however and after the tactical carve-up test matches were scrapped the following season in favour of automatic promotion and relegation. We've all heard of a game of two halves, well this was a game of three halves between Sunderland and Derby in September 1894. The official referee Mr Kirkham was late getting to the game on Wearside so a replacement (John Conqueror) took charge of the match until Mr Kirkham actually turned up at half-time with Derby 3-0 down after kicking into a strong wind for 45 minutes. Remarkably though the referee offered the visitors the chance to start all over again, which, not surprisingly, they chose to do, only to lose another half of football 3-0. After playing against the conditions for 90 minutes the Derby players were now running out of gas and despite having the advantage of the wind in the third half they went on to ship another five goals and eventually lose 8-0, or 11-0 depending on your point of view. Derby goalkeeper Jack Robinson no doubt sticking with 8-0 though as he had once claimed that he would never concede ten goals in a game, Robinson blaming the Sunderland defeat on the fact that he missed out on his superstitious pre-match meal of rice pudding. Games between Burnley and Blackburn have always been tetchy affairs and this one on a freezing cold day in December 1891 was no different. 3-0 down at half-time the visiting Rovers didn't want to brace the conditions in the second-half and only seven of their players were on the pitch at kick-off, and then when one of their men was sent off the remaining Blackburn players left the field except for goalkeeper Herby Arthur. Referee Clegg carrying on the game though, under the then existing rule of starting a game with six players. Despite facing a ten man Burnley side, the Clarets having also had a man red carded, Arthur managed to keep a clean sheet after the home side rather unsurprisingly had a goal disallowed for offside. Arthur eventually dallying around the ball for so long from the restart that referee Clegg abandoned the game, Blackburn later apologising for their actions in the game after saying that their players were numb with the cold and snow and couldn't carry on. A long time before penalty shootouts came into force a wartime cup tie between home side Stockport and visitors Doncaster went into extra-time after both legs of the fixture had finished 2-2. With no more goals coming in the further 20 minutes of play, referee Baker decided that the result should be decided on the day, the match eventually being abandoned after 203 minutes due to bad light. In one respect, with the match taking place in March 1946, the players were lucky that the game hadn't taken place four weeks later or the game would have lasted even longer. Finally, after the teams had left the pitch, a decision was taken to toss a coin for the choice of home venue for a replay, Doncaster not only winning that but also the replay, by a scoreline of 4-0 to end a tie that had lasted 383 minutes. It must be bad enough as a team to score seven goals in a game and lose, but when you score then all yourself over 120 minutes of football then it must be even worse. That being what happened to Wilf Minter when he was playing for St Albans City in an 8-7 defeat at Dulwich Hamlet in November 1922 in an FA Cup Fourth Qualifiying Round replay, the scores having been level at 6-6 as the game went into extra-time. Another remarkable goalscoring feat coming in January 1930 when Jim Dyet, who was only in the side as a trialist on his debut, scored eight goals for King's Park in a 12-2 win over Forfar, King's Park being the club that preceded Stirling Albion in the town. Dyet signing for the side straight after the game, but he wasn't there for long as he soon joined Falkirk for the princely sum of £750 six months later. The Ayrshire-born striker being Falkirk's top scorer in 1930-31 with Dundee United then being his next port of call in 1932. Like many footballers in those days though an injury ended his professional career and he found himself back at King's Park on a part-time basis before eventually retiring from the game. Dyet living to the ripe old age of 97 before dying in Falkirk Royal Infirmary in July 2005. |