First County Visit:	Saturday 18th February 1978
Competition:	Football League Division 4 – (Tier 4)
Result:	Barnsley 0 – 1 Stockport County
Attendance:	6,928
Away Trip:	2
Away Day:	2
County Line-up	1 Mike Rogan; 2 Graham Smith; 3 John Rutter; 4 Alan Thompson; 5 Ken Fogarty; 6 Terry Park; 7 Mike Summerbee; 8 Carl Halford; 9 Eddie Prudham; 10 Steve Massey; 11 Barry Howard
Scorer:	Graham Smith
Manager:	Alan Thompson
County Visits:	10

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LES BRADD ….. SCORED A HAT-TRICK AT BARNSLEY

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Unrecognisable that is to the TV viewers. The camera gantry sits on the one part of the stadium which structurally remains unchanged, although hats have been tipped to the post Hillsborough era of all seater stadia.

The fine paddock area in front of the Main Stand is now sanitised by row upon row of red seats. How much has gone missing from the game by removing terraces. It’s one of the (few) joys of non-league that standing is still the norm; having a pint whilst watching the game isn’t verboten, and those who are slave to the weed can poison themselves freely.

The 1978 version was a real old-fashioned ground. Terracing behind both goals – the homesters benefitting from a roof, whilst visitors had to endure the elements. And a winters afternoon at Oakwell was generally more than sufficient to test the hardiest of travellers. Away Trip 2 was more like testing the waters. Being the proud owner of a hardly roadworthy Triumph 1300 there was always going to be a limit on the distance travelled. 50 miles seemed to be about the size of it so a visit to Belle Vue Doncaster in early 1978 fitted the bill.

The journey was started but came to an abrupt stop on the top of Saddleworth Moor, as the engine overheated and after a quizzical, (and in truth highly uninformed), inspection under the bonnet nothing else could be done other than to abandon proceedings for the day and limp back home, stopping every few miles to replenish the radiator.

Two weeks later with repairs undertaken and my working knowledge of cars exponentially increased, having replaced a cylinder head gasket under the watchful tutelage of my father, it was time to try again. This time it was destination Barnsley. Only about 30 miles across the scenic Woodhead pass, a drop through Penistone and onwards to Oakwell.

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Locating grounds in those pre-SatNav days there was one golden rule. Get to the town and look for the floodlights. Park up somewhere near – job done. Whether this would be as successful these days is open to question, with the traditional floodlight pylons now replaced by lights built into the stands. Anyway, the old method worked that day at Oakwell, and my first sight of what was a really traditional ground, and more than likely unchanged for decades, was from the top of a grass bank.

Later visits saw this as a battlefield in the times when hooliganism was more rife. The danger in February 1978 came more from trying to keep upright, as a wet spell had rendered the approach to the ground as more akin to a mud slope. County were triumphant on the day, with Graham Smith, a fixture in the team throughout the 1970’s, claiming a very rare goal in a 1-0 win.

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53 weeks later came the most memorable visit. Having fought through heavy snow over the Pennines to find that the game was on, (no internet to check in those days!), I paid my cash, this time opting for the ‘comfort’ of the Main Stand, (above), which at least afforded a bit of shelter were the threatening clouds to deliver another dose of the white stuff.

A healthy crowd of over 9,000 turned up, probably boosted by those wanting their weekly football fix. More than likely a fair few neutrals who finding most games in the South Yorkshire area had fallen victim to the elements, found their way to Oakwell. The neutrals certainly got value for their efforts, but for County followers the day seemed to have been a fools errand. 4-1 down with 10 minutes to go, and thoughts were straying to an early dart to get back over a treacherous Woodhead Pass. Give it another 5 minutes I thought – there may be a consolation goal to partially warm up the return trip. 10 minutes later and the travelling contingent were in 7th heaven.

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Les Bradd, (below), in his first of three seasons at EP, had arrived from Notts County with an impressive goal record. Those ten minutes were to show us why. He notched what appeared to be the consolation; then another … and then a third. A ten-minute hat-trick which left him with a place in County folklore. Even now, when the Cheadle End is roused to song it’s not unusual to hear the refrain of “Les Bradd… scored a hat-trick at Barnsley”. The bizarre thing was that there was still time for him to come close to a 4th as the shell shocked Tykes defence were ripped apart. It ended 4-4 but felt like an epic victory.

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Grabbing a result late on is one of the most satisfying feelings for the travelling supporter. 38 years later goals from Kayode Odejayi and Obi Anoruo in injury time at Hednesford converted a loss into 3 points, and provoked much the same reaction. Frankly it hardly matters at what level your team is playing. Moments like those are to be savoured and recalled. It’s a vital element of being a fan!

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September 2016

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VISITS

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Day	Date	Competition	Tier / Round	Opponents	Res	F	A	Crowd	Away Day
Saturday	18/02/78	Football League Division 4	Tier 4	Barnsley	W	1	0	6,928	2
Saturday	24/02/79	Football League Division 4	Tier 4	Barnsley	D	4	4	9,153	10
Friday	21/08/98	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Barnsley	D	1	1	16,377	388
Friday	10/09/99 (Highlights)	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Barnsley	L	1	2	13,173	409
Tuesday	14/09/99	Worthington Cup	Round 2 – 1st leg	Barnsley	D	1	1	6,966	410
Saturday	31/03/01	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Barnsley	W	2	0	13,203	444
Saturday	08/09/01	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Barnsley	D	2	2	11,192	448
Saturday	08/03/03	Nationwide Football League – Division 2	Tier 3	Barnsley	L	0	1	9,177	480
Saturday	29/11/03 (Highlights)	Nationwide Football League – Division 2	Tier 3	Barnsley	D	3	3	9,047	497
Tuesday	28/12/04	Coca-Cola Football League – League 1	Tier 3	Barnsley	D	3	3	10,236	519

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ON MY JOURNEY WITH COUNTY AROUND 180 GROUNDS

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Previously – ST JAMES PARK (EXETER) Next stop – SPOTLAND