Re: Last Night

By ChrisHFC4/5/2018 15:22Fri May 4 15:22:27 2018In response to Re: Last Night

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The great Hendon side of 1964-65, to be specific, scored 192 goals, with David Hyde scoring 59 goals, Jimmy Quail 36, Peter Slade 34, and Danny Lakey 30. Nobody else that season scored more than 5 (three players, one of whom was the centre-half)!

In 1963-64, our first season in the Isthmian League, we only scored 164 goals, but had six players in double figures, scoring 39, 37, 21, 21, 16, and 13 respectively - that hasn't happened since.

For the 14 seasons from 1963-64 to 1976-77, there were only two when fewer than four players were in double figures; in six of those seasons we had five players in double figures, and, as noted above, six in 1963-64.

Despite the somewhat lesser scoring prowess of the early 1970s team compared to the 1963-66 period, their main strength was defensive. In 1973-74 we conceded 20 goals in 42 league matches. In 1972-73 we conceded 18 goals in 42 league matches, our goalkeeper John Swannell kept 30 clean sheets in the league, and reputedly we didn't concede a goal from an opposition corner in any match that season.

IMHO our current "fab four" up front are potentially the best quartet I've seen since the 1963-65 period, but for me they need to perform similarly for at least another season together. Whether that can happen remains to be seen - depends whether any bigger clubs come sniffing round, or if any of the four would prefer to move on.

I told Gary after last night's match that IF he can keep the (great majority of the) squad together for another couple of seasons, AND IF the players perform to the same level as they have this season, then in a couple of years time I would rate them as one of the best three squads I have seen playing for Hendon in almost 60 years of supporting the club.