Shewsbury's worst defeat since 1964

[DoDTS]

Looking on BBC Football and Shrewsbury playing at Cardiff the preview says they "have made four new signings since the 7-2 defeat at Chesterfield - the club's worst loss since 1964". That rang a bell and yes......

Saturday 4th April 1964
Southend United 7-1 Shrewsbury Town
Goalscorers: Bobby Gilfillan 4, Ray Smith 2 and Terry Bradbury
Attendance: 4,668

 

[RobM]

They also had a 13-2 cup win v. Marine a few years ago The Marine manager moaned because if it were a two legged tie, they'd have away goals!

 

[fishpaste]

If I remember correctly the match was nearly called off for a waterlogged pitch. Most of the goals (if not all) were headers. Bobby Gilfillan was one of the best headers of a ball we have ever had. My number two favourite player behind the great Billy Best.

 

[Leoblue]

Looking on BBC Football and Shrewsbury playing at Cardiff the preview says they "have made four new signings since the 7-2 defeat at Chesterfield - the club's worst loss since 1964". That rang a bell and yes......

Saturday 4th April 1964
Southend United 7-1 Shrewsbury Town
Goalscorers: Bobby Gilfillan 4, Ray Smith 2 and Terry Bradbury
Attendance: 4,668

That seems a poor crowd for those days......... I remember reading and (talking to people), and we use to get crowds of 10,000 - 15,000.

 

[DoDTS]

That seems a poor crowd for those days......... I remember reading and (talking to people), and we use to get crowds of 10,000 - 15,000.

Yes it was a poor crowd for the time, the previous Monday (Easter Monday) over 10,000 turned up to watch us play Millwall, but as fishpaste says "the Shrewsbury match was nearly called off for a waterlogged pitch". In the early 60s gates were erratic, surprisingly after relegation in 1966, and Southend were near the top of the table rather than mid- table the gates picked up on a regular basis.

 

[LBBlue]

I was there and remember it well. The pitch was a swamp a complete mudbath. It probably explained the small crowd as I remember I watched from the west stand to keep dry!

 

[Leoblue]

Yes it was a poor crowd for the time, the previous Monday (Easter Monday) over 10,000 turned up to watch us play Millwall, but as fishpaste says "the Shrewsbury match was nearly called off for a waterlogged pitch". In the early 60s gates were erratic, surprisingly after relegation in 1966, and Southend were near the top of the table rather than mid- table the gates picked up on a regular basis.

Thanks DoDTS, that's the first thing that struck me from your report was the low crowd.

 

[AndyT]

Just dipping into that season, another match stood out.

Coventry City away.

They finished top and had a crowd of 28,887 for our match and we beat them 5-2.

No doubt this has been covered before, but sounds like a remarkable result.