Dunstable v Worcester City - Saturday 16th October 1968

A distinctly minimalist programme was printed for this match in keeping with the gloom amidst the half completed stadium at Creasy Park. City supporters probably made up about three quarters of the sparse crowd who turned up to watch the slaughter of the innocents. The programme notes state that "many supporters will mourn the departure of Barry Fry". The departure of Fry brought to an end an era that had brought the likes of Geoff Astle and George Best to Dunstable along with a free spending management. That era had now finished with the extinction of the original club and this Dunstable (incorrectly described at Dunstable Town on the programme cover, but correct inside the programme) team was no match for City's superbly balanced team. It was quite an achievement for Dunstable to hold out for nearly half an hour before the diminutive figure of Norman Pemberton fired City into the lead. Lionel Martin added a second before the break. City ran riot in the second half as Dunstable tired and there were further goals from Barry Williams (two), Bobby Mellor and another from Norman Pemberton. A fine performance and the highest away win of the season but a salutary reminder if one is needed that you can't keep on spending money that you haven't got. Dunstable Town had finished bottom of the First Division in both 1972/73 and 1973/74 before the sudden meteoric rise to fame that saw them finish second in 1974/75, only to fold up during the 1975/76 season and reform as Dunstable.

Since the arrival of the ebullient Nobby Clarke at St George's Lane he had been quietly building a team capable of great things. His knowledge of non-league football was second to none. The first most City supporters knew of him was when he brought his brilliant Highgate United team to the Lane in 1974 and humbled the City with a superb display of attacking football in a replay of a first round FA Cup tie (no program exists for this game). He joined at a time of great strain, the club had been relegated and by Christmas it was obvious that promotion was out of the question. He turned things round in just 18 months and by the start of the 1976-77 season had acquired a squad of immense stature. All opposition was swept aside and most left humiliated by Clark's men. Banbury United was the only team to even take a point at the Lane Barry Town conceded seven goals, and both Dunstable and Wellingborough were hit for six. The league was won by a clear margin leaving our old friends Cheltenham Town to fill the other promotion spot. Only in the very last league game of the season at Barry Town did the City's unbeaten run come to an end after 37 games without defeat (another game for which there is no programme).

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