MY YORK STREET: Rick Tooley had a long wait to see his his first Boston United FA Cup win, relished David Norris' hat-tricks and doing Lincoln City a favour... but struggled to get Kidderminster's Kim Casey out of his life

As Boston United prepare to begin life in the Jakemans Community Stadium, The Boston Standard is asking Pilgrims fans to share their memories from the glorious - and sometimes forgettable - years at York Street. Today is the turn of Rick Tooley...
My York Street: Rick Tooley.My York Street: Rick Tooley.
My York Street: Rick Tooley.

My first game: 0-4 v Rotherham, FA Cup, November 1980. One week after watching Forest lose 0-3 at home to Spurs in my first ever football match, my York Street debut was an even heavier defeat. My next game was Kettering in the FA Cup in 1981 (0-1), so I didn’t see a Pilgrims goal until my first league game in September 1982, nearly two years after my first visit to York Street. That was a 4-1 win against Worcester, of which my only memory is prolific striker Colin Garwood breaking his leg just before half time – the first time I’d seen an adult in real pain.

My favourite game: 3-2 v Altrincham, FA Trophy, April 1985. The game that got us to Wembley. After a goalless first leg, we were 2-0 up at half time and playing against 10 men. Surely we could book the coaches for Wembley? In typical Boston fashion, nothing is ever easy and a late Alty equaliser put them ahead on away goals. Bob Lee’s last minute header to win it was the most dramatic finale I’d seen at York Street until the Adam Roscoe overhead kick for Chorley. We’ve had many games over the years with a similar atmosphere, but the fairytale ending and the Wembley reward for winning that game made it extra special.

My least favourite game: 0-3 v Hyde, September 1995. I had been on holiday in the Lake District that week. After catching a ridiculously early train from Windermere, I just made it back to Boston in time for kick off, only to see us thoroughly outplayed as we lost our fifth game out of eight in a sorry start to that season.

My strangest game: 9-3 v Buxton, September 1995. Four days after the Hyde game, on a Wednesday night (the proper night for midweek games!), we were 9-0 up after an hour against a hapless Buxton team. Thinking we were on for some sort of record score, we somehow then conceded three in the last half hour without scoring again. It was the late Gareth Price’s first start for the club and he scored two that night to have an instant impact. Inevitably, we followed that up with a 0-1 home defeat to bottom team Droylsden in the next match.

My happiest memory: 3-1 v Crewe, FA Cup, November 1982. After watching FA Cup defeats in my first two games at York Street, I finally saw us win one against Shifnal Town in the qualifying round, then we deservedly beat Crewe in the first round proper. It must have been one of Chris Cook’s early games for the club, and he scored two that day to set up a huge second round game against Sheffield United. Future head of the FA, Mark Palios, scored Crewe’s goal. That win, in front of a crowd of over 3,000, made me a fan for life. I thought that sort of cup run would happen all the time, but it’s actually the last time we beat a Football League team in the FA Cup.

My worst memory: Adam Roscoe’s 96th minute equaliser for Chorley, play off semi-final second leg, May 2015. We were 2-0 up in the second half, so when we conceded a scrappy goal from a set piece it seemed like no more than a consolation for Chorley. No-one in the ground expected what happened in the very last minute of injury time, when Roscoe scored an unbelievable overhead kick to equalise. It didn’t matter that Roscoe was sent off in extra time, as we did everything but score. Once it went to penalties you knew it wouldn’t be our day.

My favourite goal: Lee Thompson in 3-2 win v Yeovil, Easter Monday, April 2004. Having led 2-1 at half time, United were absolutely taken apart by Yeovil in the second half. They soon equalised, then quickly got a penalty. The penalty was scored but it had to be re-taken; Bazza saved the re-take to keep us in the game, setting up Tiny Thommo’s late heroics. Into injury time, Thommo was sent running clean through from the half way line, and coolly slotted it past the keeper to send York Street wild. At the end of that season, Lincoln pipped Yeovil to the last play off place on goal difference – who says we never do the Imps any favours?

My favourite player: So many over the years, mostly top quality goalscorers – Chris Cook, Marc Newsham, Andy Kirk, Dayle Southwell, Julian Joachim, Gary Jones, Simon Grayson, but my favourite would have to be David Norris. Nosher first joined us in 1999, but was snapped up by Premier League Bolton the following January, signing off with a hat-trick in his last game. Coming back on loan in late 2000, he scored and was then sent off in a 4-3 New Years Day win over Kettering, and in his last game before suspension he scored another hat-trick, at Tamworth in the FA Trophy. It was great to see him back in recent years after a long and distinguished Football League career, but those early days really stick in the memory.

My favourite manager: A tough question, because managers are 'asked to leave' following a run of poor results, so the lasting memory you have of most of them isn’t that great. The Hurst/Scott partnership nicknamed Shorty & Shouty) was an exception to the rule as they left of their own accord to move to a higher division. The team they built has been the United team I enjoyed watching the most over the years, with quality throughout (Shaun Pearson, Kieran Murphy, Anthony Church, Danny Sleath, Jamie Yates, Ryan Semple, Marc Newsham to name a few). I see a lot of similarities with Craig Elliott, as they both built teams largely around players they knew from previous clubs, and were able to create an excellent team spirit amongst the players, which does not seem to have been the case under certain other managers.

Best opposition player: I remember Stan Collymore playing against us once for Stafford, but the names that stick in the mind are great non-league players of the 1980s, who played against us every season. Players like Ossie Smith of Runcorn, Jeff Johnson and John Davidson of Altrincham, and David Howell of Enfield. But I’d have to go for Kim Casey. Part of an entertaining Kidderminster team that seemed to win half and lose half of their league games every season. Casey was good for 40+ goals most seasons. He always seemed to score, and often against us. In the early 2000s, when I started working in Birmingham, I saw a vaguely familiar face in the lift one morning - Kim Casey worked in the same building, so even years later I couldn’t escape him!

Best away side: We’ve played some very good teams – Reading and Fulham in the League Cup, Newcastle and Leeds in friendlies etc, but I’ll choose from our non-league rivals for this. Over the last ten years or so, the most consistently difficult team for us to play against seems to have been Guiseley. For a long time they had quality players like Steve Drench in goal, Simon Ainge at the back (but always likely to score from a set piece) and James Walshaw up front who could always win a penalty. They pipped us to the league title on the last day in 2010, and came back to haunt us again in the play-offs the following year.

I’ll miss York Street because: It’s been my second home for nearly 40 years. For all that time my view has been the same, from the second row of the red seats behind what was the away dugout (now the home dugout). The old ground had a unique atmosphere for the big games, especially those midweek Cup replays under a proper set of floodlights. I’ll miss the closeness to the town centre too, the convenience of calling in a couple of shops after the game. The last season at York Street has been a bit of a fairy story, with the FA Cup run and then the play offs, and I’m sure the new ground will start to generate its own special memories, just as soon as we’re allowed to watch games there.

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