Early doors

[DJ]

Malcolm Hazlewood’s drive put Halesowen ahead after just 17 seconds in a 3-2 victory over Worcester City on April 12th 1993. This led me to ponder other early goals and pose the inevitable question - What’s the earliest goal the Yeltz have ever scored in a game?

It’s probably not easy to answer as goals are often simply recorded as being in the first minute rather than being timed precisely to the second. However, here are some that come to mind in relatively recent times from my records.

Jamie Molyneux matched Malcolm’s achievement exactly by bursting forward straight from kick-off to also score after 17 seconds
(not 16 seconds as some reports suggest) on April 6th 2019 in the 3-1 home defeat against Bedworth United.

Lee Williams curled home to put Halesowen ahead “within seconds of the start” in a 2-0 win again at Bedworth on February 11th 2003.

Nick Smith’s dipping drive “within 30 seconds” gave Halesowen the lead on October 11th 2005 in a 7-2 defeat of Yate Town.

James Loney headed home after just 45 seconds as Halesowen fell to a 5-3 home defeat to Clevedon Town on April 18th 2009.

Ethan Delaney took just 28 seconds to head Halesowen on the way to a 3-0 win at the Grove over Coleshill Town on September 3rd 2016.

Lee Chilton netted a rebound after 56 seconds in a 4-2 home win against Mickleover Sports on January 28th 2017.

I’m sure there may be plenty more, especially in our early history. Does anyone know of a Yeltz goal to beat Malcolm’s 17 seconds?

Incidentally, on the other side of the coin, the Yeltz conceded after just 15 seconds in October 2018 when Leiston’s Jake Reed ran straight through Halesowen’s defence in their 4-0 victory in Suffolk.

[piearce9]

This is a great topic - although I think I'd struggle to think of anything that improves on 17 seconds.

My usual test of how early a goal is depends on where I was stood and if I'm on my way to "find my spot" on the terraces so, by that measure, I recall Lee Chilton scoring very early in a Number 9 Derby at their place (doubt it within seconds though) and also I'm sure they scored a very early goal at our place - possibly even the same year.

They reckon that Ryan Hall of Croydon scored the fastest ever goal in senior football this week with a whack straight from kick off - 2.31 seconds. Not sure if they have to factor in wind assistance of anything like that.

[YeltzDoc]

The 1-0s where you score very early then cling on stick in the mind.

This one at Dartford, back in the days when I used to smoke, I remember mostly for buying 20 fags on the long walk from the train station to the ground (groundsharing at Maidstone maybe?) and due to nervously chain smoking for 90 minutes, buying another 20 on the way back.

Also memorable for my mouth getting me into trouble, as per, after a spell when they hit the post / bar / ref's arse / etc and I hilariously shouted,

"Come on Halesowen, you've got them on the rack now".

To be told, by one of the, oh so lovely locals, to,

"fack off back ap Norf you fat, four-eyed, ginger, Brummie cant".

I've never been so insulted in my life. "Brummie"....

I think there was another one darn Sarf too, wth an early goal and a cling-on. In my mind it was Welling and an Andy Bradley goal, but a perusal of the stats tell me that this never happened.

In my day this was all fields you know....

[Laurel Lane Lamper]

Does anyone recall the 1-0 win at Crawley’s old ground on Tuesday 29 March 1994? There Is No Comparison scored very early on and I think could have been in the 1st minute but at the moment I have nothing to back it up.

[YeltzDoc]

I think that's the one where there was 11 of us. We mentioned this to Malcolm in the bar afterwards and he said, "Is that in case we didn't turn up?"

[Laurel Lane Lamper]

“The Yeltz returned from Mickleover Sports last night with the 3 points thanks to a 1st minute Kaiman Anderson goal. This evokes memories of when Kevin “There is no comparison” Harrison also scored in the 1st minute down at Crawley Town on 29th March 1994 to give us an away 1-0 victory. Thankfully the Mickleover fans last night were much more welcoming than a particular section of the Crawley fans that night.
Our line-up at Crawley was Mick Martin, Shane Abell, Andy Bradley, Phil Wood, John Snape, Chris Jones, Malcolm Hazlewood, Kevin Harrison, Darren Marsh, Evran Wright, Ian Brown. Subs: Colin Robinson, Ian Bettles. Att:714.”

IMG_0147.png

[GreySquirrel]

I can’t seem to remember any early goals however I probably missed them all as I still deem it unlucky to see the kick off.
As for Creepy Crawley away games I have plenty of stories. Feel free to seek me out tomorrow and I will divulge.

[andy]

I think that's the one where there was 11 of us. We mentioned this to Malcolm in the bar afterwards and he said, "Is that in case we didn't turn up?"

Deffo the one. Remember the abuse well. Correct me if I'm wrong but was that night the 'ball in the pie' game as well or was that a Saturday?