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The return to League 1 after the Play-Off final win in May 2008 gave us the chance to play against some of the Clubs whose traditional sphere of operation was at a higher level. Leicester City had been the first visitors to EP that season – the first time we had faced them in league action for 83 years, and by the time the festive fixtures arrived it was the chance to see Leeds United whose absence from the hallowed turf had been a a year longer.

The season had started off pretty well, and there were signs that the team Gannon had built was more than holding its own towards the top of the Division. We had seen some new faces. A new keeper, Owain fon Williams, plus Johnny Mullins who had arrived from Mansfield and was proving a favourite. Fees had been paid for Carl Baker, (from Morecambe), and also Peter Thompson, (a striker from Linfield) – the former had offered more with Thompson proving a disappointment, having scored only twice by the time Leeds turned up. To bolster the strike force Gannon had turned to Craig Davies, (on loan from Oldham), and he had hit the target 6 times in little more than a month. County lay in 7th place, well adrift of leaders Leicester, but a point and two places in front of Leeds.

The game drew 10,273 to EP – to the day of writing this piece in April 2021 there has never been a crowd like that since. (The next largest was 7,768 when Leeds made a further visit 12 months later, although there are may cynics who will suggest that the Play-Off game against Chorley in 2018 saw the declared crowd significantly less than those actually crammed in that evening!!).

The game started well for County as Mullins rifled one home in the first 3 minutes, and hoped were high of picking up after a disappointing reverse at the Bescot Stadium 48 hours earlier. The Leeds line-up was hardly without quality, featuring Fabian Delph; Jermaine Beckford and Robert Snodgrass – all to feature at the highest level in later years. (As an aside on the bench was Andy Robinson. He didn’t get on but County fans will recall from the dark regional football years that he had a fairly ignominious spell at EP during Neil Young’s tenure – the only memory being of him being sent off at Solihull within 30 seconds of coming on. That’s recalled in my piece on Damson Park).

That quality told, as Becchio put the visitors level after 20 minutes or so, and it remained that way until deep in the second half. fon Williams came dashing out of his area; made a desperately poor clearance which fell at the feet of Delph who returned it back into the net from 35 yards. And that, as they say, was that with Malcolm Christie adding a third 5 minutes from time.

There was disappointment as we left the ground, but that was small beer compared to the travails that were unfolding. It was at this game that I heard the first whispers that a financial cataclysm was emerging. There had been little suggestion of this from what is usually well informed gossip on the terraces. (County has had a reputation of being world leading in leaks from the Club over many years). The whispers that day were well founded … within 4 months the Club was in administration and the fall into regional football had begun…

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Memories of trips to Elland Road

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THE GAMES

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Where the date is in bold click for highlights of the game

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	Date	Venue	Ground	Competition		F	A	Att:
Sun	28/12/08	h	Edgeley Park	Coca-Cola Football League – League 1 (Tier 3)	L	1	3	10,273
Sat	11/04/09	a	Elland Road	Coca-Cola Football League – League 1 (Tier 3)	L	0	1	24,967
Sat	05/09/09	a	Elland Road	Coca-Cola Football League – League 1 (Tier 3)	L	0	2	22,870
Mon	28/12/09	h	Edgeley Park	Coca-Cola Football League – League 1 (Tier 3)	L	2	4	7,768

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