BLUEBLOOD
Moderator of Moderators
I remember when we played the SadOs on 23rd August 1985, it was a Friday night and the first home league game of the season, we'd just signed this new striker from our visitors for what appeared a bargain £5k, his name ?? Richard Cadette !!! He'd scored shed loads in pre-season, admittedly against the usual cannon fodder (note to the newbies.. its ALWAYS been like it, so please stop complaining about our friendlies !!!), but this was the real thing, he'd been an unused sub at Crewe the previous Saturday (the last time i missed the opening fixture of the season i'm proud to say )but he'd entered the fray as a 2nd half sub on the Tuesday vs Gillingham in the League Cup and turned a pretty dull affair into an absolutely thrilling one, with his pace, movement and just good old-fashioned desire, that 20 minute cameo rightfully earned him a starting spot for the Os match, with plenty amongst the 3643 crowd keen to see a repeat performance, and boy he didn't disappoint !!!!! I'm not even going to try to describe the goals, i seem to remember them all as being pretty much alike, with RC collecting the ball around 30 yards from goal, beating 2 or 3 players and lashing the ball home, i think he scored 2 in each half as the Shrimpers romped home 5-1, with Danny O'Shea (goes round and round) netting the other. I didn't really know about football rivalries then, apart from a couple of trips to Layabout Road, i realised there was certainly an edge to THOSE matches, so i can't recall if the result led to the sort of celebrations that will be plenty evident come 5pm on August 11th should we muster a similar result, all i know is i just knew i'd seen the emergence of a Blues legend that night, someone who, in my eyes at least, is right up there with the Collymores and Eastwoods of this world.