Phil Yelland casts his eye over results on our previous visits to Blundell Park.
Tuesday night sees us head to Lincolnshire to play Grimsby Town at Blundell Park and it’s fair to say it’s a ground where we certainly have had tough times in the past.
Over our 18 visits we have won just once – and that was in October 1967. The game had an interesting sub plot because, in the summer of 1967, our promotion-winning manager Don McEvoy had left Holker Street to take charge at Grimsby, where he did not end up enjoying the same success. Our 1-0 victory that night also came courtesy of an own goal from former Barrow player Dave Worthington, who had joined The Mariners in the summer of 1966 and went on to appear over 300 times for them.
That win ended a run of 10 straight league defeats on the ground, during which time we had scored just two goals. However, in the 1964/65 season we earned a surprise FA Cup draw at Blundell Park after also drawing the first game. Town were in Division Three and we were in Division Four and the first game at Holker Street had ended 1-1. Our scorers in the 2-2 draw after extra time were Garbutt Richardson and Bobby Tait. In those days, the game went to second replay at a neutral venue. The venue for this game was Old Trafford, where we lost 2-1 in front of 9,282 fans – a bigger crowd than had attended the first two games.
We have made four trips to Blundell Park in the National League and our more recent record sees two draws and two defeats. The latest visit was in August 2015 – our first away game since winning National League North and it ended in a 4-1 defeat. Our goal came from substitute Elliott Newby – his first for the Club.
In November 2010 we also took a point in a 1-1 draw, with our goal coming from former Everton striker Nick Chadwick, who is now Assistant Manager at AFC Fylde. We also took a point there late in the relegation season of 2012/13 when we drew 0-0.
So, a total of 18 visits across Division Three North, Division Three, Division Four, the FA Cup and National League have seen one win, draw three and lose 14. It’s surely time for win number two.