Here's an article that I wrote for the Robins Review over a decade ago:
WHEN WE WERE KINGS:
ALTY IN THE APL 1979/80
PART 19: WALK ON THE WEALD SIDE
After their underachieving performance in that 2-0 setback at Nuneaton Borough, Alty faced the prospect of two games against Wealdstone within the space of six days, commencing with an Alliance Premier League (APL) Cup Third Round tie at Moss Lane on Monday, 3rd December 1979.
However, the vagaries of the weather duly intervened, as depicted by Wealdstone’s secretary Bill Emerson in his programme notes for the following Saturday’s encounter: “Bathed in sunshine on the upward trip, we were hit by a storm of concentrated fury, which appeared to be confined to the Altrincham area, when we were virtually yards from the ground. So intense was the downpour that the pitch was waterlogged in minutes.”
The referee, Terry Morris of Leeds, delayed postponing the match until 7.40pm (ten minutes after the appointed kick-off time), at which juncture he undertook a pitch inspection. Notwithstanding the efforts of the Altrincham ground staff, this freak cloudburst had rendered the Moss Lane surface unplayable, leaving the match official with no other option than to call the game off.
This APL Cup Quarter Final was provisionally rearranged for Monday, 17th December 1979, subject to the Robins not being involved in an FA Cup Second Round Replay versus Rotherham United.
Meanwhile, two additional cup fixtures were confirmed. The draw for the Cheshire Senior Cup First Round paired the Robins with an old adversary in the shape of Macclesfield Town. This contest was scheduled to take place at the then Northern Premier League (NPL) club’s Moss Rose ground on Saturday, 5th January 1980, unless Alty had progressed into the FA Cup Third Round.
In the draw for the FA Trophy First Round (to be played on Saturday, 12th January 1980), the Robins were allocated an away trip to another NPL side in the guise of Grantham, who Alty had last met in an FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round tie at Moss Lane on 6th November 1976.
Saturday, 8th December 1979 saw the Robins travelling to Middlesex in order to resume their quest for the APL title via their 12th away league game of the season at Wealdstone’s Lower Mead stadium in central Harrow, a football ground that no longer exists. At the end of the 1990/91 season, the club was forced to relocate when their ground; the surrounding buildings and private dwellings were sold to permit a Tesco supermarket to be built in the town centre.
Alty aficionado Bill Waterson was present at Lower Mead for the Robins’ debut there over three decades ago and recalls: “The coach parked in an alley behind a cinema and the ground was neat and tidy. In 1992, I moved to Harrow and every time that we drove past that Tesco store for the seven years we lived there, I would say "Do you know that used to be Wealdstone’s football ground and I first went there in 1979?", all of which got on my wife‘s nerves just a bit!“
Alty entered the match as the league leaders, having accumulated 26 points from their 18 previous APL fixtures, whereas Wealdstone were lying in 16th position, fifteen points adrift of the Robins. The Stones’ record to date read as follows: played 15; won three; drawn five and lost seven and on the preceding Saturday they had suffered a 4-2 home defeat against Scarborough.
The Robins were still without the considerable motivational services of their redoubtable captain, John King (fondly remembered as “that bearded maniac King at Altrincham“ by one seasoned contributor to the Stonesnet Fans‘ Forum!), who was completing the second game of his two match ban. Thus, Graham Barrow continued to deputise for Alty’s suspended skipper in central midfield.
Following a two match absence as the result of a torn knee ligaments injury sustained in the FA Cup clash against Crewe Alexandra, John Davison returned at left full back, replacing Ivan Crossley, and Phil Wilson was nominated as the Robins’ substitute in preference to Mickey Brooke. Meanwhile, there was news that Graham Tobin’s broken hand was still in plaster but the pins in it were due to be extracted that weekend.
Alex Stepney was the sole member of the Alty team to possess any experience of playing against Wealdstone, as he had been the Millwall goalkeeper when they had registered a 3-1 FA Cup First Round win over the Stones at The Den back on 13th November 1965.
The home side’s line-up included their club captain and England Non League International, John Watson, in midfield. Watson, who would later play for Scarborough and Maidstone United, was awarded a total of 18 England Non League International caps during his career.
Also present in the Wealdstone ranks on that particular afternoon was a certain 17-year old trainee electrician by the name of Stuart Pearce, who had signed on full contract terms at the start of the 1979/80 season after a successful spell in the reserve team.
Pearce would amass 241 appearances and score 15 goals for the Stones prior to being transferred to Coventry City for a fee of £25,000 in October 1983. In May 1985, he was signed by Brian Clough at Nottingham Forest and he gained the first of his 78 England International caps when Bobby Robson selected him to play against Brazil at Wembley on 19th May 1987. His playing career also encompassed spells with Newcastle United; West Ham United and Manchester City respectively and he is currently the manager of the England Under-21 team.
In his autobiography Psycho, published in 2000, Pearce comments: “When I tell people I played against Alex Stepney, they are amazed, but he was in goal for Altrincham when they won the Alliance twice. He was about 41 then and I was 18, so there was a massive age difference. He has always been my trump card when footballers gather together and swap stories about who they have played against. When I drop Stepney’s name in, they reckon it makes me around 90.“
To be fair to Alex Stepney, I deem it necessary to point out that he was in fact ’only’ 37 years of age when Pearce faced the Robins back in December 1979!
In front of 842 spectators at Lower Mead, the Robins seized control of affairs by means of a two goal salvo inside the opening quarter of an hour. In the 9th minute, Wealdstone’s Fred Barwick misjudged the bounce of a spinning ball and his error let in Barry Whitbread, who capitalised via a typically cool finish, chipping the ball past the Stones’ goalkeeper Ian Cranstone to record his eighth goal of the campaign. Just six minutes later, Barry Howard punished another defensive blunder and doubled the Robins’ advantage. When a through ball was not intercepted, the Alty winger pounced and promptly steered the ball beyond Cranstone and in off a post.
To their credit, the hosts rallied and dominated the remainder of the first half. However, their attempts at launching a comeback were repeatedly thwarted by the figure of Alex Stepney, who was in supreme form. Fresh from his special guest appearance in order to open proceedings at the Altrincham Supporters’ Association’s Christmas Fayre at 7.30pm on the previous evening, Stepney produced a string of fine saves, including blocking a point blank shot from Wealdstone’s leading goalscorer, Neil Cordice.
The second half was merely eight minutes old when the Robins once again exhibited their clinical finishing. Barry Howard eluded the Wealdstone rearguard and calmly rolled the ball under Cranstone’s body and into the net for his fifth goal of the season.
On the hour mark, Alex Stepney was finally beaten courtesy of a superb strike from Neil Cordice, who would subsequently play alongside his brother Alan in the 1984/85 Wealdstone team that recorded the historic double of being both the Gola League (as the renamed APL became) Champions and the FA Trophy winners in the same season. The Stones’ centre forward unleashed an unstoppable drive out of the mud, which left Stepney transfixed on his line as the ball rocketed into the top left hand corner of the Alty net.
However, the Robins duly put the game to bed in the 76th minute, when Whitbread was first to react to a knock-down in the penalty area and slotted the ball past Cranstone from close range. The Robins’ record signing had now clocked up seven goals in just ten APL appearances since his arrival from Runcorn.
So, Alty had now reached the halfway point of their APL season and the statistics read as follows: played 19; won 13; drawn 2 and lost 4. A total of 28 points had been accrued; 41 goals had been scored and 19 goals had been conceded. Moreover, of their remaining 19 league matches, a dozen were scheduled to be staged at Moss Lane, where the team had a 100% record to date in league games.
The Alty supporters’ elation at this 4-1 triumph against Wealdstone was enhanced by the propitious news from elsewhere that both of the Robins’ nearest challengers had contrived to drop points. Second-placed Worcester City had slumped to a surprise 1-0 loss at 15th-placed AP Leamington and third-placed Bangor City had been held to a 1-1 draw at home by 17th-placed Barnet. Consequently, the Robins’ lead at the pinnacle of the APL had been restored to a margin of six points.
There were further glad tidings for the club when it was announced that Tony Sanders had been named as the winner of the APL’s inaugural Manager Of The Month award for November 1979. His reward would comprise a gallon of whisky and a commemorative certificate, both presented by the sponsors of this new accolade, P Mackenzie & Co. Distillers Ltd. of Perth.
Meanwhile, back at Moss Lane on that Saturday afternoon, spectators had witnessed a somewhat surreal development as Alty’s reserve side drew 1-1 with Bradford City Reserves in a Lancashire League encounter. Featuring in attack and wearing the No. 11 shirt for the Robins’ second XI was none other than Colin Darcy, who had of course commenced the season as Alty’s first choice goalkeeper, playing in the opening six APL fixtures prior to the recruitment of Alex Stepney. Darcy even managed to get the ball into the visitors’ net, only for his effort to be disallowed for an offside infringement.
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