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Twenty days prior to the trip to south east London a pall of gloom had descended on EP as we succumbed to a home defeat at the hands of Wrexham. A season when much was expected had started off dreadfully. True, we had progressed in the League Cup with a two legged win over Chesterfield, (which was of course to lead to much glory later in the competition!), but the league form, (2 points from six games), saw County in 23rd place only being kept off the bottom by Rotherham. On 14th September, the first League victory came with a 3-1 win over Plymouth, and the following fortnight saw York and Gillingham beaten added to which were a couple of League cup triumphs over Sheffield United, the second of which was the 5-2 win at Bramall Lane much savoured all these years later by those who were present.

Those inveterate travellers who set out for the metropolis on a bright October afternoon wondered whether a sixth win on the bounce was to be witnessed. It promised to be a tough challenge. Millwall was purportedly a tough place to visit, (it was to be my first experience never having been to the old ground), and the Lions progress thus far in 1996/97 had left them in 6th place. Their defence looked tight as well, with only 11 conceded in their 9 games. It promised to be a difficult game but also one in which we could get a good measure of the extent to which the progress made over the previous three weeks could be sustained.

The Fingerpost Flyer was the mode of travel, (as indeed it was for the majority of the 34 away trips I made that season. It was an uneventful journey south until such time as we were entrapped in the rush hour London traffic with the passage along Euston Road taking an inordinate length of time. The coach driver informed us that he had been told to report to the Met when Tower Bridge was reached, and they duly arrived and escorted the charabanc into the car park at the way end. Absolutely no chance of doing anything other than going straight into the ground, although to be honest there seemed to be little appetite amongst the travelling throng to explore the local area….

There were probably no more than 150 County fans stationed in the upper deck of the North Stand, (a more than decent view in my opinion), but what they saw unfold was one of many memorable moments in the 1996/97 season. In the 24th minute Brett Angell picked up the ball on the left and crossed into the box where Keiron Durkan slid in at the back postto give County the lead.

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Memories of trips to The New Den

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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:
Wed	02/10/96	a	The New Den	Nationwide Football League – Division 2 (Tier 3)	W	4	3	7,537
Sat	18/01/97	h	Edgeley Park	Nationwide Football League – Division 2 (Tier 3)	W	5	1	7,502
Sat	27/10/01	h	Edgeley Park	Nationwide Football League – Division 1 (Tier 2)	L	0	4	5,371
Sat	15/11/08	a	The New Den	Coca-Cola Football League – League 1 (Tier 3)	L	0	1	9,030
Sat	14/02/09	h	Edgeley Park	Coca-Cola Football League – League 1 (Tier 3)	D	2	2	5,461
Sat	17/10/09	h	Edgeley Park	Coca-Cola Football League – League 1 (Tier 3)	L	0	4	4,394

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