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Hartlepool have provided the opposition in the County games I have seen on 43 occasions – only Crewe, (54), and Wrexham (45) have been more frequent opponents. Picking a game to highlight from these 43 games provided more than a fair few options. But I settled on a game in November 1977. Watching the Hatters to that point had provided a few high spots, and more than a few low moments, but there was a consistent theme – goal scoring was never a strength. Up to that point I had only ever seen us hit the target in a game more than twice on one occasion – a 3-0 win against Barnsley seven weeks previously.

By 11th November 1977 the season was 16 games old. A poor start to the campaign, (just a single win in the first 7 games), had been followed by an improvement. The aforementioned Barnsley game began an unbeaten run of 8 games, including 5 wins, before a narrow reverse at Bournemouth. We were scoring fairly regularly with Eddie Prudham, (4), and Chris Lawler, (3) contributing to the 16 strikes in that period. It showed the benefit of a virtually unchanged team with 10 players appearing in each game. But those turning up at EP on that Friday night and in common with that season it was a pretty healthy 4,179, couldn’t possible have anticipated the goal fest that was to unfold.

It was a rout. County ran in 6, creating a ‘best’ for me and remains so to this day. I have seen it repeated on 5 more occasions … and that covers a further 1,927 games!! On the scoresheet were Carl Halford (2); Eddie Prudham (2); Alan Thompson (pen); and Terry Park. Thompson, of course, was player manager at the time. He had been in charge since the previous April at the tender age of 25, and after the poor start the County fanbase had warmed to what was on offer. He lasted until the end of March 1978 and reverted to being solely a player. County fans will probably remember him best for the penalty he slotted away at Old Trafford a few months later!

As it turned out the goal glut that evening was to be replicated against Hartlepool 12 years later. On that occasion Brett Angell scored 4, and could have made it 5 had he not generously, (and some say foolishly!), passed the ball to George Oghani when a penalty was awarded.

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Memories of trips to the Victoria Ground

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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:
Mon	07/03/77	h	Edgeley Park	Football League Division 4 (Tier 4)	W	1	0	2,649
Fri	11/11/77	h	Edgeley Park	Football League Division 4 (Tier 4)	W	6	0	4,179
Mon	11/09/78	h	Edgeley Park	Football League Division 4 (Tier 4)	W	4	0	4,259
Mon	22/10/79	h	Edgeley Park	Football League Division 4 (Tier 4)	D	0	0	2,639
Mon	27/10/80	h	Edgeley Park	Football League Division 4 (Tier 4)	L	0	2	2,066
Sat	28/03/81	a	Victoria Ground Hartlepool	Football League Division 4 (Tier 4)	L	0	1	1,928
Mon	25/01/82	h	Edgeley Park	Football League Division 4 (Tier 4)	L	0	2	1,924
Sat	10/04/82	a	Victoria Ground Hartlepool	Football League Division 4 (Tier 4)	D	2	2	1,506
Fri	08/10/82	h	Edgeley Park	Football League Division 4 (Tier 4)	D	1	1	1,915
Sat	19/02/83	a	Victoria Ground Hartlepool	Football League Division 4 (Tier 4)	L	2	3	1,029
Mon	02/01/84	h	Edgeley Park	Canon League Division 4 (Tier 4)	W	1	0	1,799
Wed	03/04/85	a	Victoria Ground Hartlepool	Canon League Division 4 (Tier 4)	L	1	5	1,148
Fri	11/10/85	h	Edgeley Park	Canon League Division 4 (Tier 4)	L	1	3	1,827
Fri	14/03/86	a	Victoria Ground Hartlepool	Canon League Division 4 (Tier 4)	D	1	1	2,675
Fri	01/05/87	h	Edgeley Park	Today League Division 4 (Tier 4)	L	0	2	2,228
Tue	03/11/87	h	Edgeley Park	Barclays League Division 4 (Tier 4)	W	1	0	1,408
Mon	24/10/88	h	Edgeley Park	Barclays League Division 4 (Tier 4)	W	3	0	2,098
Tues	28/02/89	a	Victoria Ground Hartlepool	Barclays League Division 4 (Tier 4)	D	2	2	1,598
Fri	15/09/89	h	Edgeley Park	Barclays League Division 4 (Tier 4)	W	6	0	3,884
Sat	10/02/90	a	Victoria Ground Hartlepool	Barclays League Division 4 (Tier 4)	L	0	5	2,938
Tues	29/01/91	a	Victoria Ground Hartlepool	Barclays League Division 4 (Tier 4)	L	1	3	2,384
Fri	29/03/91	h	Edgeley Park	Barclays League Division 4 (Tier 4)	L	1	3	5,217
Tue	04/02/92	h	Edgeley Park	Autoglass Trophy (Northern Round 2)	W	3	0	2,255
Tues	18/02/92	a	Victoria Ground Hartlepool	Barclays League Division 3 (Tier 3)	W	1	0	2,473
Fri	06/03/92	h	Edgeley Park	Barclays League Division 3 (Tier 3)	L	0	1	4,473
Sat	28/11/92	a	Victoria Ground Hartlepool	Barclays League Division 2 (Tier 3)	L	2	3	2,949
Tue	12/01/93	h	Edgeley Park	Autoglass Trophy (Northern Round 1)	W	1	0	2,383
Tue	23/03/93	h	Edgeley Park	Barclays League Division 2 (Tier 3)	W	4	1	4,154
Tue	17/08/93	h	Edgeley Park	Coca-Cola Cup (Round 1 (1st Leg))	D	1	1	2,915
Tues	24/08/93	a	Victoria Ground Hartlepool	Coca-Cola Cup (Round 1 – 2nd Leg)	L	1	2	2,273
Sat	11/09/93	a	Victoria Ground Hartlepool	Endsleigh League Division 2 (Tier 3)	L	0	1	2,473
Sat	05/03/94	h	Edgeley Park	Endsleigh League Division 2 (Tier 3)	W	5	0	4,076
Tue	16/09/03	h	Edgeley Park	Nationwide Football League – Division 2 (Tier 3)	L	1	2	4,021
Tues	16/03/04	a	Victoria Ground Hartlepool	Nationwide Football League – Division 2 (Tier 3)	D	2	2	4,674
Sat	11/12/04	a	Victoria Ground Hartlepool	Coca-Cola Football League – League 1 (Tier 3)	L	1	3	4,572
Sat	26/02/05	h	Edgeley Park	Coca-Cola Football League – League 1 (Tier 3)	W	1	0	4,548
Sat	14/10/06	a	Victoria Ground Hartlepool	Coca-Cola Football League – League 2 (Tier 4)	D	1	1	4,372
Sat	17/03/07	h	Edgeley Park	Coca-Cola Football League – League 2 (Tier 4)	D	3	3	7,860
Sat	23/08/08	a	Victoria Ground Hartlepool	Coca-Cola Football League – League 1 (Tier 3)	W	1	0	3,945
Tue	10/03/09	h	Edgeley Park	Coca-Cola Football League – League 1 (Tier 3)	W	2	1	4,790
Tue	29/09/09	h	Edgeley Park	Coca-Cola Football League – League 1 (Tier 3)	D	2	2	3,780
Tues	13/04/10	a	Victoria Ground Hartlepool	Coca-Cola Football League – League 1 (Tier 3)	L	0	3	2,869
Wed	09/10/19	h	Edgeley Park	Vanarama National League (Tier 5)	W	2	0	3,465

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