• We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies from this website. Read more here

Classic Matches

fred binneys head

Very well known Exeweb poster
Joined
Apr 1, 2004
Messages
22,059
Location
Loving the boy Stanno
Only time I have been to Scunny was that end of season relegation saving game where we won 2-0 under Blakey. TMC and a late Gary Birch goal doing the job although Jamie Campbell getting Steve Torpey sent off didn't half help 😀.
I was there for that game. My bro kissed kwame’s sweaty bald head after the game when the players came over to clap us and leant right into us over the advertising hoardings.
 

Oldsmobile-88

Very well known Exeweb poster
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Messages
26,948
Location
In RaWZ we trust....Amen.
I remember going to Scunthorpe(Glanford Park) the 1st season it opened.A new build ground was novelty back then.
They were the first team to move grounds since Southend(1955)
A shock when we arrived,there was nothing around except for the ground.I guess the first real out of town ground,which seemed very alien at the time.

It was the era of the inflatable Ffyes banana which many seem to take to grounds in those days 😁
 

Avening Posse

Very well known Exeweb poster
Joined
Dec 31, 2013
Messages
10,154
Location
Sydney
I remember going to Scunthorpe(Glanford Park) the 1st season it opened.A new build ground was novelty back then.
They were the first team to move grounds since Southend(1955)
A shock when we arrived,there was nothing around except for the ground.I guess the first real out of town ground,which seemed very alien at the time.

It was the era of the inflatable Ffyes banana which many seem to take to grounds in those days 😁
Pretty sure I went that day Olds. Minibus combo of St Thomas and Dawlish and Exmouth. We got there and found a village pub a couple of miles down the road for pre-match beers
 

Oldsmobile-88

Very well known Exeweb poster
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Messages
26,948
Location
In RaWZ we trust....Amen.
Pretty sure I went that day Olds. Minibus combo of St Thomas and Dawlish and Exmouth. We got there and found a village pub a couple of miles down the road for pre-match beers
Good shout AP.
Wish we had done that.I was on the coach,if we knew how desolate it was around the ground,we would have done the same no doubt
 

HH12

Well-known Exeweb poster
Joined
Mar 21, 2013
Messages
7,184
Location
Now safely converted to HF68
I was there for that game. My bro kissed kwame’s sweaty bald head after the game when the players came over to clap us and leant right into us over the advertising hoardings.
Yep was there for that one too - managed to avoid any head kissing though
 

Red Devon

Very well known Exeweb poster
Joined
Apr 1, 2004
Messages
11,082
Swansea v Exeter Division 4 : 22nd Aug 1987.

On the face of it,not a fixture that could be classed as a classic,but it did have a good ingredient at the end.
A win AWAY...The Grecians had gone a complete season without a win on the road.A run stretching back to April Fools Day 1986 at Plainmoor,29 games before,indeed I don’t think the Grecians ever looked like winning a away game in that run.

The Supporters Club had taken over the running of away travel from the start of the season.The football club had run it up until the end of the previous season not very well it has to be said,but that’s a different story.

A ropey old looking coach turned up at Bampflyde St at 10am curtesy of Dartline Coaches,then a fledgling coach company.
They had no experience of football supporters except what they had read in the tabloids,the experience of Go With Gordon’s coach getting trashed in the previous season was probably fresh in the coach fraternity’s minds,so one could not expect a luxury coach with trimmings.

A uneventful trip until we neared Swansea when the driver was seen to be frantically pumping the foot brake & shouting the brakes are going !
He managed to slow down enough,the car in front just pulled away so the collision was a ‘fender bender’ & a exchange of details.
There was obviously a issue with the air lines to the brakes but the driver felt confident to drive on 😁
The Police motorcycle escort was picked up a mile later(as was the norm in those days) The coach driver wisely kept well back from the rider because the brakes were still not too good apparently.

Enough excitement before we had got to the ground ☹😁
A good crowd at The Veitch Field about 5,500 which was pretty good in those days(about 150 Grecians) the usual charming knuts outside before you entered the ground.
I always thought Swansea was worse than Cardiff & have had a few close scrapes there.

In the first half Brendon O’Connell cut in from the right wing & fired a low beauty into the next just before HT.

In the 2nd half the Grecians were expectedly under the cosh.
As was the norm back then managers could not shuffle there team too much with just 2 subs.
Colin Appleton swapped midfielder Paul Olsson for Tony Kellow.Kells scored a beauty.Not a spectacular shot but a goal of real guile.
He picked the ball up in the box,there were at least 4 defenders covering the goal,they expected a shot,so legs were extended everywhere,Kells waited a second & passed the ball into the back of the net.
I was right in line with the line of the ball & saw the glance up by Kells before he threaded the ball past all of those defenders.
Pure strikers class.

That was it 2-0 game over & a away win after nearly 17 months.😁
The coach driver was watching the game too,which was a bit alarming because we imagined he was getting the coach looked at.

The brakes went completely on the M4 on the way back but luckily failed on a uphill section so we ended up sitting on the verge for a couple of hours before a mechanic fixed the brake line fault.

Dartline were told by never to give the travelling supporters old coaches again & to be fair to them we usually had their luxury coach after that(Sarah Jane)
After a difficult start it was a good relationship for many years.

A very eventful day out.
Very eventful day to say the least 😬😊 must have been Darkey’s and Grecian Travel as we know it today first official away day.
20962097
 

Oldsmobile-88

Very well known Exeweb poster
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Messages
26,948
Location
In RaWZ we trust....Amen.
Yes it was the first.
Darkey really did well by taking over the travel & running it under the Supporters Club banner.
For the first time there was guaranteed transport.
It was a minibus on a few occasions & you could book up & know that you would be travelling,something that was a lottery with the football club running it.
As you mentioned that flows through to GT today.

Did you go to Tranmere a couple of weeks after the Swansea game(a BH Monday 7.30 KO) ?
We did not have a full sized coach,but went up in a 25 seater iirc,stopped off in Warrington for a drink on the way to the Wirral.
 

Red Devon

Very well known Exeweb poster
Joined
Apr 1, 2004
Messages
11,082
Yes it was the first.
Darkey really did well by taking over the travel & running it under the Supporters Club banner.
For the first time there was guaranteed transport.
It was a minibus on a few occasions & you could book up & know that you would be travelling,something that was a lottery with the football club running it.
As you mentioned that flows through to GT today.

Did you go to Tranmere a couple of weeks after the Swansea game(a BH Monday 7.30 KO) ?
We did not have a full sized coach,but went up in a 25 seater iirc,stopped off in Warrington for a drink on the way to the Wirral.
No I didn’t go to that one at Tranmere....but I can recall an evening match at Tranmere back then it may have been on Good Friday (evening kickoff) or even a Bank Holiday Monday definitely near the end of the season though...pretty sure we won the match 1-0 with the goal coming at the other end of the pitch that must have been a trip on the Sarah/Jayne coach.
 

Oldsmobile-88

Very well known Exeweb poster
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Messages
26,948
Location
In RaWZ we trust....Amen.
No I didn’t go to that one at Tranmere....but I can recall an evening match at Tranmere back then it may have been on Good Friday (evening kickoff) or even a Bank Holiday Monday definitely near the end of the season though...pretty sure we won the match 1-0 with the goal coming at the other end of the pitch that must have been a trip on the Sarah/Jayne coach.
Ah,Sarah/Jayne the named coach we used the most back then...Psycho(Al) the driver 😮

There was a photo of all of the regular crew on that coach taken around 1988/89..I have never seen it,but hope it turns up on fb one day(I have asked around)
A few great memories from those trips & the people that travelled.
 

fred binneys head

Very well known Exeweb poster
Joined
Apr 1, 2004
Messages
22,059
Location
Loving the boy Stanno
I remember going to the Vetch at the start of one season (first game), bright sunshine, 200 or so City fans there and the new Swansea mascot (Cyril the Swan) abseiled down from the top of one of the stands and ran towards the big stand on the side of the pitch arms outstretched to massive cheers and singing from the Swansea fans. Surreal.
 
Top