Like you, Shep, I have memories of that game but, probably unlike you, I was so embarrassed that I went home at half-time when it was only 0-6.Hounslow were, in fact, four leagues above us and England international Laurie Cope had a field day. There were some similarities to the Farnborough match. Keeper Joe Andrews was ill and we had to draft in a young untried reserve in goal. Several other defenders were injured or unavailable so we had a makeshift defence.Shepperton Supporter wrote: Tue Apr 22, 2025 9:30 am Les mentioned the loss against Hounslow. I was at that game -it still rankles! The Hounslow team were a couple of leagues above us and they had a couple of internationals playing. They also had reached the Amateur Cup final the previous season before to Crook Town in the replay.
Perhaps not the same comparison to this game?
I felt that we were rather naive to get the game put on in view of all the absentees. February 1963 was part of the big freeze and football pitches were covered in a layer of snow and ice. Volunteers spent the Saturday morning clearing the pitch and the game was played with mounds of snow up against the perimeter fence. I think nobody would have complained if we'd "done a St Albans" and got the game postponed until we had some regulars back.
The encouraging good news from that debacle is that we kept faith with manager Peter Tagg and won the Surrey Senior League the following season and that was the start of our glory days in the Spartan League.