26/12/50: Swindon Town (H)

A supporters Cinderella Dance? The mind boggles. Please, Dave, no pictures. Quite a stylish programme cover in those days - a Riviera touch? - but compare with the following year against Exeter.

And - this is true for pre-1958 programmes of course - there's such a "southern" (rather than national) feel to our whole existence. It's clearly a world where it was perfectly normal to be regularly playing the likes of Norwich, Ipswich, Millwall, Crystal Palace, Reading, Swindon and so on. Radar was a pretty new invention back then but ours wouldn't have extended to places such as Rochdale, Bury and Darlington back then. Did we ever give northern clubs two thoughts unless we happened to chance upon them in the FA Cup? Between 1927 and 1958 we only appeared to have faced Accrington, Bury, Wigan, Stockport, Blyth, Leeds, Huddersfield and New Brighton in competitive football. No wonder national divisions from 1958 onwards represented such a big change.

Lastly, look at the Southern League appearances and you'll see Mike Tiddy plugging away in the reserves. Good enough to later play for Cardiff and Arsenal on the wing but not in our team at the time!