Unofficial Halesowen Town FC Forum

It was twenty years ago today (20/01/1996) that Premier League arm-waving referee Paul Danson was felled in Halesowen’s 4-2 FA trophy defeat against Dudley Town at Round Oak. Danson danced no more after being knocked unconscious from behind with what my report described as a “stray” ball (but seemed well aimed to many). After the middleman was cut-out, both teams left the field and the game was held up for 20 minutes while a replacement was found. As far as the game was concerned, John Snape rode three tackles to beat Andy Crannage and put the Yeltz ahead before Dudley’s Toby Hall levelled after 37 minutes. Evran Wright lobbed Crannage to restore Halesowen’s lead but with the Yeltz looking in control, Adrian Cooper snatched Dudley’s 71st minute equaliser. John Horne fired Dudley ahead four minutes later and Gary Piggott hammered home Dudley’s fourth in the 85th minute. The FA Trophy exit was almost exactly a year after Halesowen knocked out Gretna 4-1 (who decided they were English at the time) following a replay – a time of haggis and epic milk train journeys….

However, any 1996 disappointment was brief as the Yeltz then embarked on a magnificent run until the end of season, being defeated in only 1 of the remaining 20 league games (losing 1—0 at Stafford Rangers) and finished 1995/96 with an unbeaten 17 game sequence. Notable games included the infamous 2-1 win at money bags Rushden & Diamonds in front of almost 3500 fans plus a double over Crawley Town, before the final day heartbreak in the 2-1 victory at Newport.

Despite being pipped to the Beazer Homes (Southern) Premier League title and subsequent promotion to the GM Conference by Rushden, the 92 points secured Halesowen’s best ever league finish (the Conference was one step below the Football League). Despite being runners-up, play-offs did not exist. The points total was higher than all but two champions in the previous nine seasons since the league expanded to 22 teams in 1987, indeed Farnborough Town won the title with 82 points just two seasons earlier. In either of the other two feeder leagues to the national Conference – the ICIS or Unibond - the 92 points would have secured the title in that 1995/96 season.

I don't remember this incident. although I'd have undoubtedly been there.

I can remember a similar one at The Grove a few years earlier though, when Malcolm poleaxed the ref with another "stray" ball from a quickly taken free kick. The referee just managed to get the whistle to his lips and emit a feeble "peeeeep" as he crashed to the deck, and after administration of smelling salts and sympathy gave Mr Hazlewood an almighty bollocking but wasn't able to do anything else because, as any pedant will tell you, he is "part of the field of play".

And yes,

DJ wrote: epic milk train journeys….

Indeed.

I don't remember either of these incidents although I was definitely at Round Oak.

I do recall Mick Gorman being knocked out at Cambridge, was it by a wayward Jason Owen shot?

It was.

He was stood by the touchline on the side you come into the ground, bottom goal, near the corner flag.

Many claim that it was the closest Jason came to scoring for us...

Actually, thinking about it, wasn't there a Messi-style wonder goal from Jason "Forrest Gump" Owen at The Grove, when he ran past about 5 players to wang it into the Shed End sprout bag from about 30 yards?
I can remember us banging on about it in RTR for some months afterwards.

We didn't lose to Gretna did we? It was called off on the Saturday, then we travelled their on a Thursday and drew 1-1 before beating them 4-1 the following Monday. I remember they only had two subs if that.
I also recall the Thursday visit to Gretna, as I couldn't go and that ended my longest stretch of watching Halesowen without missing a match of 149 matches.

The Dudley game was very embarassing at the time. I don't think Dudley lasted more than two more seasons before going into hibernation for a few years.

The nostalgia is strong in this thread, but who are the players in DJ's picture?

Fairly sure it's the back of Gavin Blackwell's head in the black and white pic but even I'm struggling to recognise our players in the colour one.

Possibly Matty Gardiner on the ref's right and Snaper's arse?

Team that day was:-
1 DUDLEY
2 CLARKE
3 OWEN
4 KNIGHT
5 John SNAPE *
6 RODWELL
7 HARRISON
8 WRIGHT*
9 CRISP
10 SHEARER
11 COLLEY
Subs
12 HACKETT
14 WILLIAMS
15 BRADLEY

So it could be Rodwell I reckon, not sure I'm an expert on Snapper's arse like Doc though.............

And fourteenthly, would I be right in saying that all of the Dudley scorers played for us at some stage, plus Andy Crannage.

Cranner played for us as an emergency loan once, having been a great keeper at Dudley, Lye and Stourbr*dge (I think), Ada Cooper and his Velcro-badged old-man were long associated with us, Gary Piggott certainly signed pre-season one year but may not have made a competitive start.
John Horne must have played for us at some stage, having been around locally for about a thousand years, mostly at Bumblecoat, and I think Toby Hall briefly featured after scoring a few for The Harriers.

As ever, I'm sure LLL knows.

YeltzDoc - Keeping Chas away from the light since 1873.

Could be Rodwell. Difficult to see how arrogant he is from that angle. Might even be Jason Owen.

And I'm sticking by Snapper's arse, in so many ways.