First Played: 1982-3
Win Rate: 55% (from 11 games)
One of the oldest football clubs in southern England, Boro’ have met Uxbridge in both (non-)league and cup encounters. For us, the story starts with the 1982-3 FA Vase; a Preliminary Round clash that took TWO replays before the Reds came out on top. In the years that followed, we met as equals in the Isthmian League. And then we stepped it up a gear; our most recent encounter (to date) coming in the 1998-9 FA Trophy.
Honeycroft
Horton Road, West Drayton, UB7 8HX
You won’t find many older football clubs in England; certainly not in the south. Formed in 1871, the Reds are long in the tooth to put it mildly. In the early years, the club merged with Uxbridge Crescents; playing under that name for the 1886-7 season – before dropping the Crescents bit in 1887. It was also that second team that brought the red strip into the equation that resulted in their enduring nickname. That’s the establishing shot, now for the rest. And it starts in 1894 with the club being founder members of the Southern League.
An unsuccessful appearance in the 1898 FA Amateur Cup final must count as an early highlight. But it came right before a lowlight; the Reds quitting the Southern League in 1899 due to financial problems. As a result, they dropped into the Middlesex Amateur League. Mind you, we now come across a bit of a curveball. They played one season in the Middlesex Amateur League before folding. It took two years to repay their debts – at which point the club came back into being.
If you can look past that slight anomaly with regards to the club’s age, we’ll continue. The Reds added the ‘Town’ suffix to their name in 1919 upon joining the Athenian League. After relegation to the Great Western Combination League, they made their return to the Athenian in 1924. Here they’d remain until 1937 – when they moved to the Spartan League as just Uxbridge FC. Then, after World War Two, the Reds signed up to the Corinthian League; winning the competition in 1960 and staying in it until the league disbanded in 1963.
The demise of the Corinthian League saw the Reds move into the Athenian League. Four seasons in and the club were relegated from Division One to Division Two. It was around this time they came into ownership of their Honeycroft ground, while also playing a full-strength England side in a 1978 World Cup warm-up. Four years later, the Reds secured promotion from the Athenian League into the Isthmian League. And it’d be the club’s next promotion – in 1984-5 – that’d take them into Division One, where they’d be waiting for us.
| Pl | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts* | WR% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 11 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 19 | 12 | 7 | 12 | 55% |
| Home | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 50% |
| Away | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 60% |
| League | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 12 | 67% |
| Cup | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 7 | 3 | n/a | 40% |
* league points only
| Neville Roach | Profile |
| Anthony Thomas | Profile |
Head around the counter-clockwise M25 and leave at Junction 15 for the London-bound M4. At Junction 4, come off and bear left to take the A408. Keep going along for a mile; taking the Horton Road ramp for Dawleywood. Next, it’s the first exit at the roundabout for Horton Road. It’ll soon be apparent the ground is up on the right.
Tools: AA Route Planner | Highways Agency
You’ll find plenty of parking at the ground.
Station: WEST DRAYTON
Services to: LONDON PADDINGTON
Leave the station and turn right onto the High Street, before right again into Horton Road. Keep on Horton Road all the way until it seems like the built-up area is over. This will be where the left turn to the ground is.
Tools: National Rail | TfL Journey Planner
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