Stevenage: 1986-7 Season Details
It wasn’t ’til late on in the 1986-7 season that Stevenage Borough were safe from the threat of relegation from Vauxhall Opel League Division One; Boro’ ending the league campaign on a run of 14 games without a win. Few could have thought that a 1-0 win at Maidenhead United on 28 February would be the last in the league campaign for that season. It can be the wrong time to stop winning for many clubs – no matter what level you’re at.
On the cup front, Halesowen Town halted Boro’s FA Cup run at the third qualifying round stage, while Boreham Wood ended any hopes of success in the FA Trophy after a second qualifying round replay. We did, however, make the semi-finals of the Herts Senior Cup and Knights Floodlit League; the only two cup runs of notes from a challenging season for us.
The next question would be if we could pick ourselves up and dust ourselves down for the 1987-8 campaign to follow.
Full 1986-7 Details:
Most Appearances: Dave Cooper - 55
Top Goalscorer: Ricky Marshall – 17
1986-7 Boro' Rollcall
| Name | Pld | Gls | YC | RC | US |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mick Adamson | 11 (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rob Allen | 0 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Steve Armsby | 15 (0) | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Tim Ball | 18 (3) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Mark Bellamy | 1 (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dave Brown | 38 (2) | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Trevor Carter | 1 (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dave Cooper | 55 (0) | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ? Croft | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Paul Cumberbatch | 33 (7) | 10 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Danny Dance | 14 (1) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Vinny Dixon | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Phil Driver | 9 (0) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Paul Elliott | 1 (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tony Ewins | 8 (0) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Des Gallagher | 46 (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Joe Gibbs | 2 (4) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Martin Gittings | 25 (0) | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peter Gittings | 4 (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mark Hennessey | 1 (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lawrence Honey | 51 (0) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Andy Hudson | 1 (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Neil Jeffrey | 30 (0) | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Brian Marshall | 15 (5) | 9 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Ricky Marshall | 54 (0) | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Andy McCollin | 23 (0) | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Chris Myers | 42 (6) | 15 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Richard Nugent | 7 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Colin Page | 1 (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Andy Paine | 4 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Matt Pettipher | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Mark Phillips | 1 (0) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| R Phillips | 1 (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Paul Phillips | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Doug Pirie | 1 (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peter Shadbolt | 2 (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Steve Shea | 19 (2) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Paul Tansley | 7 (1) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| John Templeton | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Denny Tyler | 49 (0) | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Micky Warren | 1 (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| David Watkins | 37 (4) | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Dean Watson | 1 (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nigel Wilson | 16 (1) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Key:
- Apps = Appearances (Substitute Appearances)
- Gls = Goals Scored
- YC = Yellow Cards
- RC = Red Cards
- US = Unused Subs
1986-7 Vauxhall Opel League Division One Table
| Pl | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leytonstone Ilford | 42 | 30 | 5 | 7 | 78 | 29 | 49 | 95 |
| 2 | Leyton Wingate | 42 | 23 | 13 | 6 | 68 | 31 | 37 | 82 |
| 3 | Bracknell Town | 42 | 24 | 9 | 9 | 92 | 48 | 44 | 81 |
| 4 | Southwick | 42 | 23 | 7 | 12 | 80 | 66 | 14 | 76 |
| 5 | Wembley | 42 | 21 | 9 | 12 | 61 | 47 | 14 | 72 |
| 6 | Grays Athletic | 42 | 19 | 10 | 13 | 76 | 64 | 12 | 67 |
| 7 | Kingsbury Town | 42 | 20 | 7 | 15 | 69 | 67 | 2 | 67 |
| 8 | Boreham Wood | 42 | 20 | 6 | 16 | 59 | 52 | 7 | 66 |
| 9 | Uxbridge | 42 | 18 | 9 | 15 | 60 | 59 | 1 | 63 |
| 10 | Leatherhead | 42 | 17 | 11 | 14 | 45 | 48 | -3 | 62 |
| 11 | Hampton & Richmond Borough | 42 | 18 | 5 | 19 | 57 | 55 | 2 | 59 |
| 12 | Basildon United | 42 | 16 | 10 | 16 | 58 | 60 | -2 | 58 |
| 13 | Billericay Town | 42 | 14 | 12 | 16 | 57 | 52 | 5 | 54 |
| 14 | Staines Town | 42 | 13 | 13 | 16 | 40 | 51 | -11 | 52 |
| 15 | Lewes | 42 | 15 | 6 | 21 | 55 | 65 | -10 | 51 |
| 16 | Stevenage Borough | 42 | 12 | 11 | 19 | 61 | 67 | -8 | 47 |
| 17 | Oxford City | 42 | 11 | 10 | 21 | 64 | 72 | -8 | 43 |
| 18 | Walton & Hersham | 42 | 11 | 10 | 21 | 53 | 74 | -21 | 43 |
| 19 | Tilbury | 42 | 12 | 7 | 23 | 46 | 70 | -24 | 43 |
| 20 | Epsom & Ewell | 42 | 12 | 7 | 23 | 44 | 68 | -24 | 43 |
| 21 | Maidenhead United | 42 | 11 | 4 | 27 | 44 | 76 | -32 | 37 |
| 22 | Finchley | 42 | 6 | 11 | 25 | 44 | 90 | -46 | 29 |