Aldershot Echoes - 1978/9
Back : Green, Needham, Brodie, Johnson, McGregor, Wooler, Edwards, Tomlin
Middle : Anderson (Coach), Earls, Finlay, Youlden, Longhorn, Dodds, Dungworth, Hooper, Shanahan, Turner (Coach)
Front : Lucas, Dixon, Crosby, McAnearney (Manager), Jopling, Howitt, Baimbridge
August 1978 saw widespread optimism throughout Aldershot Football Club. Promotion to Division 3 had only been narrowly missed the previous season; a fifth placed finish just two points (one win) behind Brentford and Swansea City.
Consistency was the watchword, Tommy McAnearney was manager for his seventh season, and he'd retained the essential core of players; including 23-goal player of the season John Dungworth, Murray Brodie, keeper Glen Johnson, Alan Wooler, Joe Jopling, Andy Needham and Alex McGregor. Malcolm Crosby held out for a new contract, the dispute not settled until he put pen to paper towards the end of September. The squad had been supplemented by right-back Nigel Edwards who at 28 had over 300 games experience with Chester City, record-signing Dave Tomlin(25) from Torquay and striker Terry Shananhan (26) a free transfer from Bournemouth. Significant departures were limited to forward Terry Bell who, aged 33 and with a record of 49 goals in 124 games, moved onto Wokingham Town as player-coach.
Pre-season saw nothing but wins, against Oxford United (3-1), Leatherhead (4-0) and Salisbury (4-0). Further encouragement in these friendlies came from Dungworth and Brodie both scoring in two matches whilst Shanahan opened his account. The playing strip was arguably the most stylish worn by an Aldershot team, for the second season (of four); red Admiral shirts with white and blue trim, white shorts and red socks.
Competitive football began slowly; a pair of 1-0 reverses against Millwall in the League Cup was followed by a 1-1 draw at home to Wimbledon, in their second season of League membership. With only two points for a win Shots were unbeaten and in the promotion places after six matches - the sixth being a triumphant 6-0 hammering of Bradford City. Indeed they were four places ahead of Portsmouth at the time of the big Hampshire derby on 23 September. The Rec's highest league attendance of the season, 8,967 saw the visitors score two unanswered goals.
Shots' match programme was priced 15p for the second season running. The bright red and blue cover was the only colour. A special issue was produced for John Anderson's testimonial match against Tottenham Hotspur in September.
The importance of the FA Cup in the pre-Premier League era is evident in the size of Shots' FA Cup gates. This turned out to be the most successful run in the Cup since 1932/3 and three gates beat their League high. Weymouth were disposed of in the first round after a replay, and Barking in the second round. An away trip to second division Sheffield United may have appeared scant reward for Shots first Third Round appearance since a trip to Anfield in 1970/1. However, Aldershot were resolute in defence, and created their own chances, fading slightly in the last ten minutes, which McAnearney attributed to many playing whilst suffering from colds! In a Monday night replay the majority of an 8,321 crowd at The Rec were sent home happy after a Dungworth penalty was the only goal.
| Dungworth's Penalty Sees Off The Blades |
Shots showed real signs of consistency and a serious challenge for promotion. Between 26 September and March 24 they lost just one league match and were in second place when fellow challengers Reading visited on 6 February - a 2-2 draw in front of 7,732, the goals from Brodie and Dungworth.
Placed fifth in the Division Four table, Shots were back in FA Cup action in January, with a fourth round home tie against Third division Swindon Town. To prepare the squad jetted off for a four day training break on the Costa del Sol. Another two unanswered John Dungworth goals settled the tie and the Shots progressed further than they'd been for 55 years. The Fifth round tie seemed eminently winnable as it brought another Third division side, Shrewsbury Town, to Fortress Rec. Ultimately Shots could and should have won but drew 2-2 in front of their largest crowd of the season, 11,895; disappointingly they lost the replay 2-1.
| Dungworth again versus Swindon. |
Four wins from five league games kept Shots in second place, however a bad run of results begun with the visit of Newport County on 24 March, a 2-3 reverse. Defeats at Wimbledon and Darlington, and a point at York City were blamed on poor refereeing decisions and suspensions to Jopling , Longhorn and Youlden. Fullback Peter Scott was added to the squad, joining from York. At the season run-in Shots managed 11 points from their final 9 games, or 6 from 6, including a disastrous 4-0 defeat at Reading on Easter Monday. Reading, Grimsby Town, Wimbledon and Barnsley showed consistency in the run in, the latter three all finishing four points ahead of Aldershot's 57.
Ultimately Aldershot drew too many matches (17) and scored fewer goals than their rivals. Perhaps this showed a reliance on the goals of Dungworth. Ultimately he scored 26 of Shots 63 league goals, only Andy Needham (9) and Brodie (6) contributed more than Shanahan's 4. The record-signing was bedevilled by injury and his own problems with form, appearing in just 15 league and cup games. This is still a fondly remembered Aldershot side, league attendances averaged 4,163, and this was the 68th best average in the Football League.
John Dungworth finished the season on 34 goals (26 league, 8 cup) winning the Adidas Golden Boot for the Fourth Division and was voted Player of the Season again.
Remaining at Aldershot on a month-to-month contract in October 1979 Dungworth moved to Shrewsbury Town, now in the Second Division. The tribunal set transfer fee was a moderate £100,000.
Elsewhere in the division, Halifax Town and Crewe Alexandra were locked in a grim struggle at the bottom, both ending with just 26 points. They were joined by Doncaster Rovers and Darlington in applying for re-election. Certainly Halifax and Crewe, far from strangers to the process, could be thankful the "closed-shop" system was back in place after Wigan Athletic's displacement of Southport and Wimbledon's rather fortunate selection over Workington, this time around Kettering Town and Altrincham were roundly rejected. Arsenal defeated Manchester United 3-2 in the FA Cup Final while Liverpool won the First Division after Ipswich Town's challenge tailed off.
Aldershot's Reserve team competed in the Suburban League (Section B) against the second strings of local neighbours (Farnborough, Fleet, and Camberley), (not-so) old friends (Slough Town, Harrow Borough, and Whyteleafe) and some long forgotten names (Southall & Ealing Borough, Hounslow).
With grateful thanks to Martin Gooday for generously giving his permission to reproduce this series.
