A playing strength of thirty featured all but four local players as Hungerford Town prepared for the new campaign. I had been pleased that four R.A.F. representative players who were stationed at R.A.F Brize Norton had signed for the club as I knew they were the right type of characters for our dressing room and all the others had played their football in local leagues.

Goalkeepers: John Hollister, John Heath (had move to the area from Fleet)& Rod Oland (The League’s best)

Defenders: Arnold Andrews (Berks & Bucks Youth), Micky Calvert (RAF), Glyn Franklin, Jeff Hutchings, John Lamb (RAF ) captain, Bob Pearce, Bob Ponsford, Ian Thompson and Sid Webb.

Midfield: Roy Bailey, Roy Barry, Clive Bettison, Syuart Dinham, Norman Matthews, Chris Mundy, Robin Palmer, Gerald Smith and Stuart Walker.

Forwards: Neville Andrews, Mark Annetts,Colin Desmeules, Steve Francis, Norman Hudson (RAF), Colin Moyle, Chris Josey and Ron Tinsley (RAF).

The Reserves had been accepted by the Middlesex Border League and would enjoy meeting new opposition while the Hellenic League was going to be fully sponsored by Rothmans along with the Isthmian, Northern and Western Leagues. The administrative day to day running of this sponsorship scheme was my job at Rothmans and I was a little worried that I would be able to give the proper amount of time to Hungerford as I would often be involved in travelling up and down the country.

The F.A.Amateur Cup had been replaced by The F.A.Challenge Vase and our first tie was against Cowes (Isle of Wight) at home. The Reserves also enjoyed their first match in a new League and that took them to the famous old amateur club Hendon for their first Middlesex Border League match.

With Newbury Town and Thatcham Town competing alongside Hungerford in the Hellenic League, The Newbury Weekly News provided a lively coverage of the local rivalry but a spate of unfortunate early season injuries, including a broken leg for Bob Ponsford and the loss of David Watts, certainly didn’t help Hungerford and a very poor start with four defeats in the first five games set the tone for a desperate season.

One bright spot was the signing of ex-Coventry City captain and legend George Curtis, who made his debut at Westbury in a 3-1 F.A.Cup victory but an F.A.Vase defeat in a replay at Cowes and an F.A.Cup loss at Bath City, all added to the gloom as the club sunk down to the bottom three of the Hellenic League.

A bright spot was the selection of youngsters Micky Perris and Nicky Oswald for the county youth team but Bobby Williams an ex-Reading and Bristol Rovers professional who had helped with coaching in pre season couldn’t give enough time to the job and I was lucky to find George Pullen, the previous Didcot manager, was available to join Hungerford as the club coach. Striker Chris Josey had returned to Thatcham but George, who had played with distinction for Oxford City and Wycombe Wanderers had great experience of local football and local players. He brought Maurice Palmer, a big striker who had played for him at Didcot Town and David Watts had returnd to the club, but John Lamb had moved to Molesey as the Surrey club had not required him to travel for mid week training.

A 7-2 victory over Oxford City Reserves certainly boosted morale, especially as the David Watts and Sid Webb partnership looked so dangerous, but anoher meeting with the fast improving Thatcham Town side provided a well fought 0-1 defeat and the battle to avoid relegation was boosted by a fine 3-0 win over Abingdon Town, thanks to a fine header from ‘Man-of-the-Match’ Norman Matthews and a thrilling 4-3 home
victory over neighbours Newbury Town.

John Lamb had returned from Molesey and Graham Clarke a striker from Oxford City was immediately selected for the Rothmans Hellenic squad to face the Rothmans Western League XI. Showing the quality in their club, Thatcham had five players selected, Palmer, Foster, Penny, Simmonds and Lawrence and Newbury one- Ingram - all of whom were to play for Hungerford in the seasons ahead!

The representative match was to be played at Hungerford to celebrate the opening of the new dressing rooms which were opened by the Hellenic League chairman C.J.Green who was also Chairman of Swindon Town. Additional guests included Mr Joe Brady, Mayor of Hungerford and Mr John Newton, Club President and Constable of Hungerford. Frank Allen (Wallingford) scored the home team’s goal in a 1-1 draw and he also was to play for Hungerford in the future!

With six games to go, prospects looked very grim, but three away games brought a battling victory at Thame United thanks to a David Watts goal and draws at Wantage 2-2 (Watts and Clarke) and Burnham 1-1 (Clarke) placed Hungerford Town in with a chance of avoiding the drop.

A home defeat to Didcot Town, one of our foot of the table rivals, appeared to be disastrous and very aggravating for ex Didcot manager George Pullen, but a week-end trip to Guernsey and a 0-0 draw against the Island lifted morale and prepared the squad for the last two vital Hellenic league games.

George Curtis and Harold Jarman (ex Bristol Rovers star goalscoring winger) were unable to play as their flight to The Channel Islands was delayed but guest player Brian Knight, who had played for Reading and Thame United, had bought a hotel in Guernsey, helped out and was our ‘Man of the Match’.

The end of season provided an uplifting time for the club despite the grim relegation battles already experenced
The Hungerford Cup brought a 3-0 victory over Thatcham and a 1-2 semi-final loss to Devizes while the Reserves fought out a brilliant 4-4 draw with Hendon Reserves in the Middlesex Border League Cup Final at Marlow before losing the replay 1-2. Peter North’s team was: Heath, Marchant, Bailey, Matthews, Andrews, Mundy, Annetts, Walker, Desmeules, Smith, Moyle and Sub Bettison.

So it all came down to the last two fixtures; home to Cirencester Town and then away to old rivals and one of the top clubs, Clanfield. Paul Griffiths a young full back from Wycombe, Jamie Kent and Brian Lawrence from Thatcham and Geoff Lacey from Didcot had joined the squad but it was a typical powerful header from George Curtis and an opportunist effort by Sid Webb that gave Hungerford the valuable points and took them on to the last game of the season still with a chance of avoiding the drop.

George Curtis again excelled at centre half and was the ideal character to show the way, in a game of such importance. Clive Bettison ran thirty yards to crash in a perfect drive but the goal was disallowed for an apparent foul by the Hungerford mid fielder at the beginning of his run! The referee then awarded the home side a penalty when Curtis challenged for possession and it looked as if it just wasn’t going to be Hungerford’s day.
Graham Mackenzie, a young player from Wycombe who was to go on to skipper Kidderminster Harriers in the years ahead, was dominating in mid field and his pass created a chance for Curtis who smashed home a great equalizer. This set up a thrilling finish and it was the spirit and character of David Watts that was rewarded when he chased a long pass to the by-line and centred for winger Brian Lawrence to send a glorious header in for the winner.

A grim season had finished in a blaze of glory and, with a second application to the Athenian League being considered and council permission given for floodlights to be erected in the season ahead, the future suddenly looked a lot better. I knew that I was not able to give the team manager’s job the dedication or perhaps the corect skills that it deserved, and in George Pullen, we had a ready made Team Manager in the club. I changed title to General Manager and George could use his appropriate skills looking after the team in the seasons ahead.

Pictures Top: Hungerford Town Reserves: Back row, left to right: Michael Perris, Sid Webb, Norman Matthews, John Heath, Bob Alton, Nicky Oswald and Robin Palmer. Front Row: Colin Moyle, Colin Dsmeules, Gerald Smith, Gerald farr and Micky Calvert.

Bottom: Not a bad turn out for training! Front man : Skipper John Lamb. Second Row: Geoff Hutchings and Bob Ponsford. Goalkeepers Row: Mick Gainey, Rod Oland and John Heath. Fourth Row: Ian Thompson, Neville Andrews, Chris Josey and Norman Hudson. Fifth Row: Sid Webb, Norman Matthews, Gerald Smith, Stuart Dinham and Colin Desmeules. Back row: Chris Moyle, Stuart Walker, Arnold Andrews, Roy Bailey, Robin Palmer, Barry Feltham and Clive Bettison