33 years ago today:the Orient game

[Steve-Harpers-perm]

There wasn't any TV commentary on the original, and the reason it is so bitty (I understand) is that film was expensive and lasted half an hour a reel, so they switched the camera off when the ball went out of play. It was never intended for use as proper highlights or for broadcasting in full, only for news clippings.

The best commentary IMO was for Burnley Hospital radio, by Peter somebody I believe. I still have the cassette somewhere.

My dad has/had a copy of the Burnley Hospital commentary!! Was it not the guy who did the Preston away Sherpa Van game year after??

[mdd2]

The club put together a video of the game from material provided by, I think, the BBC. I have a copy and over the years played it to remind me no matter how badly we are playing we are better than in 1986-87, even when Waddle was in charge and in Stan's first season as manager.

[Wokingclaret]

I drove up from college in Bromley Kent to Guisborough (north east) on the Friday. Radio 2 was full of Burnley going out of the league tomorrow. Then my Dad and I travelled over in the morning, picked up the prog at the ground and went over to Worsthorne, always had lunch at Andy's pub in them days. As we past Brian's shop we saw him, wished him the best of luck and my dad told him his favourite war time words, they shall not pass!

I had the pleasure of meeting Jones and Armfield at the end, I was lost for words. Back to Guisborough, on Saturday night and then back to Bromley on the Sunday. To my surprise my College mates had plastered my hall of residence door with all the paper cuttings of the victory..... What a weekend.

[groove]

Watched the game on Clarets player today and was surprised to hear that Phil Delaney and Peter Leebrook were only 18 years old at the time. Really rookies.

[groove]

Watched the game on Clarets player today and was surprised to hear that Phil Delaney and Peter Leebrook were only 18 years old at the time. Really rookies.

[ClaretTony]

Watched the game on Clarets player today and was surprised to hear that Phil Delaney and Peter Leebrook were only 18 years old at the time. Really rookies.

Was Phil Devaney. He and Peter Leebrook made their debuts that season.

[ClaretTony]

I had the pleasure of meeting Jones and Armfield at the end, I was lost for words. Back to Guisborough, on Saturday night and then back to Bromley on the Sunday. To my surprise my College mates had plastered my hall of residence door with all the paper cuttings of the victory..... What a weekend.

Always remember going into work on the Monday after the Wimbledon cup defeat. They’d put a net across my desk and placed Wombles on it playing tennis.

On 11th May 1987 I was applauded into the office by Preston, Blackpool and even a couple of Blackburn fans. My desk had been decorated in claret and blue.

[TVC15]

Watched the game on Clarets player today and was surprised to hear that Phil Delaney and Peter Leebrook were only 18 years old at the time. Really rookies.

Phil Devaney I thought did really well for a young lad in such a huge game. He ran his socks off right to the end and chased down a lot of lost causes. He also nearly made a 3rd goal for Ian Brittain.
Leebrook had a much tougher game as he was up against the best player on the pitch in Alan Comfort but Leebrook stuck at it and made a few important tackles.

I remember surprisingly little about the game. I’d been to Rochdale to see us win a few weeks before and thought we were almost safe. All I really remember about the whole day against Orient was waiting to run on the pitch from the Longside and Burnley being on the National news which was rare. The rest is a blur - and I was 20 so it’s not because I was too young...so guess it was down to nerves and drink !

[ClaretTony]

Phil Devaney I thought did really well for a young lad in such a huge game. He ran his socks off right to the end and chased down a lot of lost causes. He also nearly made a 3rd goal for Ian Brittain.
Leebrook had a much tougher game as he was up against the best player on the pitch in Alan Comfort but Leebrook stuck at it and made a few important tackles.

I remember surprisingly little about the game. I’d been to Rochdale to see us win a few weeks before and thought we were almost safe. All I really remember about the whole day against Orient was waiting to run on the pitch from the Longside and Burnley being on the National news which was rare. The rest is a blur - and I was 20 so it’s not because I was too young...so guess it was down to nerves and drink !

Devaney had scored in that game at Rochdale but more importantly he still has my Wembley scarf from 1988 which he borrowed for the open top bus strip. If you are reading this Phil, bring it back.

Interesting one on Ian Britton. He's considered the hero, and rightly so, for his goal, but if Orient had equalised we'd have all been looking at that awful miss when Devaney had set him up.

[TVC15]

https://mobile.twitter.com/burnleyoffic ... 4023011329

And here’s the 2 young chaps re-uniting last year.
So in the Rochdale game we had a young lad scoring and an old bloke with one leg getting the other !!

Did Phil D get a bad injury ? He hardly seemed to play again after that or was he released ?

[ClaretTony]

Did Phil D get a bad injury ? He hardly seemed to play again after that or was he released ?

We released him a year later - think he might have played some non-league after that but he lives and works in Switzerland now.

[ralphdpomeroy]

Devaney ? He wasn't as good as Phil Murphy in truth and Phil Murphy wasn't great ...

Clearly done very well for himself since ...

[ClaretTony]

Devaney ? He wasn't as good as Phil Murphy in truth and Phil Murphy wasn't great ...

Clearly done very well for himself since ...

Phil Murphy was mid-20s though when we signed him, Devaney was just a kid pulled out of the youth team.

[ralphdpomeroy]

Yes true....we missed Kevin Hird and Alan Taylor's goals badly ...Taylor didn't want to leave .

[Wokingclaret]

Robert Regis, 1 goal.

We had Derrick Parker, cant remember did he get injured

[Wokingclaret]

Alan Comfort went on to play for Middlesbrough, but a serious knee injury cut short his carreer at 25. He's a vicar now.

[ClaretTony]

This is Alan Comfort. He’s the Leyton Orient chaplain.

FDCF8BC9-2458-4282-8288-6657A574BC3F.jpeg (39.05 KiB) Viewed 2616 times

[ralphdpomeroy]

Robert Regis, 1 goal.

We had Derrick Parker, cant remember did he get injured

I can't remember but we missed Alsn Taylor ..Parker scored 6 all season in 28 ... injured or dropped ? I cant recall

[Wokingclaret]

Alan Taylor is a Pallbearer now

[ralphdpomeroy]

Mark Caughey though ...awful... the slowest striker I've ever seen then he suddenly scored a goal ..I almost passed out in surprise ...

He had a good record in the Irish League came on loan from Hibs I think where he hadn't done much ?....what a let down he was

[ralphdpomeroy]

Alan Taylor is a Pallbearer now

Yes he ran a newsagents for years down in Norfolk nice bloke he lived near us during his Clarets days

[tiger76]

Mark Caughey though ...awful... the slowest striker I've ever seen then he suddenly scored a goal ..I almost passed out in surprise ...

He had a good record in the Irish League came on loan from Hibs I think where he hadn't done much ?....what a let down he was

Never heard of him,so i had a quick check on Wiki,this is his stats,he blew hot and cold.

Years Team Apps (Gls)
1978–1980 Glentoran
1980–1985 RUC
1985–1986 Linfield 21 (5)
1986–1987 Hibernian 14 (0)
1987 → Burnley (loan) 8 (0)
1987 Hamilton Academical 21 (13)
1987–1988 Motherwell 15 (0)
1988–1989 Ards
1989–1992 Bangor 43 (14)
1992–1993 Glentoran 13 (1)
1993–1995 Limavady United
1995–1996 Portstewart

So if that's right he never bagged for the Clarets.Amazingly he boosts 2 appearances for NI,and was part of their 1986 WC squad.

Came across this interesting item in the Irish press,Billy Hamilton's involvement partly explains why we signed him on loan at that time.

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/spor ... 0113.html

[ClaretTony]

Mark Caughey though ...awful... the slowest striker I've ever seen then he suddenly scored a goal ..I almost passed out in surprise ...

He had a good record in the Irish League came on loan from Hibs I think where he hadn't done much ?....what a let down he was

Caughey didn’t score for us but had one really good game playing on the right against Northampton

[randomclaret2]

James , Rodaway and Parker had all played for us in the First Division

[Wokingclaret]

Gallagher and Hampton had played First Division football

[strayclaret]

3 of us from Leeds, went to our usual pre match pit stop, the Four Lane Ends pub. I remember no one spoke and there was nervousness all around. Couldn’t even finish our pints, had to get onto the Turf. After the match we were stunned and just sat down on the Longside and watched the celebrations.
Still brings a tear to my eye when I watch the highlights and I am nearly 66

[ClaretTony]

Gallagher and Hampton had played First Division football

As had Britton

[ralphdpomeroy]

Caughey didn’t score for us but had one really good game playing on the right against Northampton

He did indeed ... I think it was a night match and on reflection my memory was of him lashing a shot against the bar ..he was that bad the shock must have thrown my memory for a moment we won 2-1 probably our best home result of the season against a good side

[ralphdpomeroy]

Gallagher and Hampton had played First Division football

One injured and one past it but both considerably quicker than Darren Heesom ....

[ClaretTony]

He did indeed ... I think it was a night match and on reflection my memory was of him lashing a shot against the bar ..he was that bad the shock must have thrown my memory for a moment we won 2-1 probably our best home result of the season against a good side

It was the Northampton game which came on the Tuesday night after we’d won at Stockport on the previous Friday night.

[ralphdpomeroy]

Yes I remember the Stockport game ..made my first visit to Palmerston Park the following day .... those were the days when lower petrol prices and admission charges made such weekends possible

Northampton game would have been March 17th ..very apt for Mr Caughey

[dsr]

As had Britton

And Derrick Parker, for that matter, though he wasn't in the Orient game. Didn't Parker score the last division 1 goal until Robbie Blake?

[ClaretTony]

And Derrick Parker, for that matter, though he wasn't in the Orient game. Didn't Parker score the last division 1 goal until Robbie Blake?

He did, in a 3-1 defeat against Coventry. Cross got a hat trick for Coventry.

[Cajun]

"Everything I did that day I thought I might be doing for the last time." --

Agree with that comment from CT. Whole weekend was surreal. No doubt the club would have folded if results had not gone the right way and we'd gone down - and also no doubt in my mind the game would not have been completed had things not been going right on the day (which I am convinced some of the national news media were hoping to cover.)
Just raw emotion and passion and the will to survive. Best quality bit of football all game was Deakin's great sliding tackle on Comfort in our box, resulting in the attack that ended with Grewcock's suberb hit into the corner which I can still picture arrowing in before being swept up in the eruption of madness on the Longside.
In discussions with other Clarets in the harsh light of day following, best anyone could ever envision in our widest optimism was for us to somehow become maybe a stable second-tier club. What we have gone on to achieve is sensational.

[dougcollins]

I got the bus in as usual, then for a reason I can't explain I went and sat in the White Lion (never been in there before) and never moved. Listened to the game on Radio Blackburn. There were a few regulars off the Longside in there doing exactly the same. At the final whistle hardly anyone said a word, I just drank up and went for the bus.

[ten bellies]

I'd been to a few games that season both home and away, restricted, thankfully, by my being in the RAF based in London. I left the RAF in the March and moved back north. On the day of the game I went on with my cousin and had pre match drinks in the 110 club. Looking out of the window of the 2nd floor we couldn't believe the number of people walking past on their way to the ground, in comparison to what we had been getting on. It's the strangest atmosphere I'd experienced on a football match and one I wouldn't want to experience again.

10 years later I went to the 'do' in the James Hargreaves celebrating our escape, the only Burnley FC occasion I've been to that wasn't a football match. Now that was a great night. The menu cover resembling the match progamme, in which I got a few autographs, turned up recently amongst some programmes, including the match programme, in a recent loft tidy up. I even have a tie somewhere.

I'd have still gone on if we had got relegated, if there had been a team to support. As it is, I now go on with my two grown up kids, who have only ever known us in the top 2 divisions.

[Silkyskills1]

Noticed that Steve Castle was sub for them. Is this the same Steve Castle who returned with Plymouth 7 years later in the play offs with the sole intention of kicking anything that moved?

[Wokingclaret]

Set up nicely for the next season wat a difference

Andy Farrell
Paul Comstive
Steve Gardner
Peter Daniel
Steve Taylor the return
George Oghani
Steve Davis MK1
Chris Pearce

[Vegas Claret]

the most nervous I've ever been before any game of football - I was only young at the time and was in with the Junior Clarets in the Cricketfield, the second the ball left Grewcock's foot we knew it was curling in. Amazing day and probably the day that made many a diehard Claret, the emotion of football is very hard to replicate.

[Tribesmen]

Now wasn't in the UK when the game was played and for the life of me cant think where i was as i would have to look it up really .

[Bordeauxclaret]

Noticed that Steve Castle was sub for them. Is this the same Steve Castle who returned with Plymouth 7 years later in the play offs with the sole intention of kicking anything that moved?

It was indeed.