Tuesday, November 24, 2009

First Team Thirty Years ago - 1979 - 1980 season

Back in the Second Division after relegation, the First Team had a much more successful year.

Young players consolidating their places were Carl Senogles, Phil Garrett, David Cole, Gary Beattie, David Ball, and Ian McMullin, who also had a spell as Junior Island goalkeeper. Moving on were Johnny Grubb, who went on to play for the Island, and Ian Quayle.

We have inputted records of 18 league games and 7 cup games, and on those inputted, the team:-

Won 13; Drew 2; Lost 9; Scored 77 goals and conceded 52. On present points system they scored 26 points of the 17 games recorded. One match, against Union Mills, on the first day of the new decade, New Year's Day, 1980, was abandoned.

In Cup Runs, they won the first round of the Woods Cup but lost in the quarter-finals 3 - 0 to St. Georges. In the FA Cup, after winning the first round, they were knocked out 5 - 0 by Union Mills. A good run in the Hospital Cup saw them win two games and eventually lose in the semis to Peel, 5 - 1.

Appearances were as follows:

Phil Garrett 25
John Leece 25
David Cole 25
Trevor Cowin 23
Davey Quayle 23
Roy Christian 22
David Ball 22
Carl Senogles 21
Gary Beattie 20
Ian McMullin 19
Paul Desmond 15
Paul Renard 13
Neil Kinrade 13
Stephen Moore 6
Willy Cowley 5
David Wallis 5
Stephen Peel 4

And one appearance each from Greg Kneale, Nigel Brown, Peter Kinnish, Derek Atkinson, Brian Gordon and Tony Boner.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

How the Comby Did in the 1978-79 Season

This was a typical Combination season of those days - the fixtures were not completed, which happened occasionally to the also-rans of the League in those days, particularly when pitches, especially ours, were mud baths.

The team played 20 games in total, and of the results available, won 5, drew 6 and lost 7, and on todays point scoring system for their league games they would have gained 16 points. Goals against were 46 and for 43.

Unfortunately the old team sheets being inputted do not include goal scorers.

Principal players of that season were:

Dudley Butt 20
George Lawson 20
Keith Sherratt 19
Peter Kinnish 15
Graham Thwaites 14
Willy Gelling 13
Tom Senogles 12
John Cleator (Neb) 12
Derek Atkinson 11
Ian McMullin 11
John Brown 10
David Ball 8
David Cole 8
Willy Cowley 5
Carl Senogles 5
Stephen Peel 5

Other Notables - Terry Druggan 2

Best win of the season was a 17 - 2 victory over St Mary's, on the pitch which is now the NSC astro-turf. Even I managed to score twice that day.

Biggest loss was a 6-0 defeat to Rushen in the quarter final of the Junior Cup

How the First Team Fared - 1978-1979

I recently found old team sheets dating between 1978 and 1984 and am gradually loading up the stats onto our website. Unfortunately there is no record of goalscorers, but this will make the appearances more accurate.

Laxey were in the First Division at the start of the 1978-79 season, but had lost several players who moved on. Young players coming through included Gary Beattie, David Cole, who went onto a professional career, and Carl Senogles, they were then only about 16 years of age. Paul Renard had been a first team regular but missed most of the season with broken ribs.


It was not a good season. The team failed to win any games in the league, and the only points they gained were for five draws. Of the 22 league games played, they lost 17.

There was a mini-FA Cup run, with two wins to get to the quarter final, which was lost.

The worst defeat was a 9-0 loss away at Ramsey, the best a 2-1 win in the FA Cup against Gymns. Obviously relegation followed.

Key players of that season were:

Trevor Cowin - played 24
Johnny Grubb 24
Ian Quayle 23
Gary Beattie 21
Nigel Brown 20
John Leece 20
Willy Cowley 18
Carl Senogles 18
Stephen Peel 17
Davey Quayle 17
Phil Garrett 15
David Cole 14
Roy Christian 12
John Brown 9
David Ball 9

Other Notables Paul Renard 4 and Peter Kinnish 2

There have been a couple of David Quayles playing for Laxey, this one was then the long haired artist/signwriter, still now playing a mean bass in various groups.

John Brown was the uncle of Johnny Callow