The pitch in the 70's had a lot of drainage problems and in the 74/75 season they had to dig up
the pitch and replace a lot in the autumn.It was in the shape of a large diamond and took up
almost the entire centre between the two penalty areas.Unfortunately,the turf didn't compact
and wasn't laid very well.In no time at all it turned to mud and sand was added on top.
This problem lasted until the summer of 77 hence the video of the Everton cuptie.During this
period our strikers - Eastoe,Anderson,Moss and Syrett managed pretty well,but it must have
been energy sapping to a lot of players.
I was lucky enough to be almost exactly in line with Kenny Stroud when he scored and it's one
of the best i've seen.Stroudy won quite a few awards that season for his goal.A few months
earlier he scored a screamer with a volley, from the left hand corner of the box against Brighton.
We went 4 - 0 up against Brighton that day,who were the league leaders and the ref abandoned
it with 20 mins to go.They couldn't believe their luck,but fortune smiled on us in the rearranged
match near the end of the season,when we beat them and deprived them of the championship.
I was at the Brighton game right under the Shrivenham Road stand just by the fence separating the Brighton supporters who were locted part way underneath the stand and on the Stratton Bank. It was cramped under there. Every time the Town scored, a rather large gentleman loudly yelled in the direction of the fence "Let's Have a Look at the Old Scoreboard" per Bruce Forsyth from the Generation Game. Every time, an immediate violent reaction occurred, they were totally pissed off and tried to rip down the fence. It was a good laugh. Didn't make the rearranged fixture but justice was served.
Wasn't there something in the Life of Brian about drains?