Middle row (l-r);
Front row (l-r);
By Jim Brown
City opened the 1958-59 season with a new kit. City retained the three panelled blue and white shirts which they had worn since 1953 but in a collar-less version. The opening home game, a 0-0 draw with Darlington, attracted 15,143, the lowest opening day crowd at the ground since 1931 but still the highest gate in the division, demonstrating City’s elite rating in the new league and the fans’ expectations that promotion would be achieved at the first attempt. However after three games of the new season City, with a solitary point were second from bottom – 91st in the league. They did not stay there long.
Frith signed veteran Irish international Reg (Paddy) Ryan and made him captain and City lost only three league games out of 24 from then until the end of January at which time they were top of the table and promotion certainties. Not that there were not some hiccups on the way.
In September new goalkeeper the 38-year old Jim Sanders broke a leg in a 7-1 home win over Aldershot. In an amazing game defender Roy Kirk pulled on the green jersey 20 minutes from time with City coasting 6-0. Jimmy Rogers completed his hat-trick (to add to Straw’s earlier three) with ten minutes left before Aldershot scored a consolation goal a minute later. With five minutes remaining ten-man City were awarded a penalty and their regular spot-kicker Kirk raced upfield only to blast his effort over the bar.
Frith eschewed the transfer market and gave the keeper’s jersey to Alf Wood, the first-team trainer who had retired two years previously. Wood, 41 year-old according to newspaper reports at the time, was in fact 43 and the oldest first team player in the club’s history. It was an inspired decision by Frith and Alf played ten games, only one of which was lost and in five of them kept a clean sheet.
Frith also strengthened the side with some shrewd signings. Alan ‘Digger’ Daley and George Stewart helped the promotion push but of greater significance was the signing of wing-half Ron Farmer and goalkeeper Arthur Lightening. Farmer would become a key player in the team for the next nine years and the club’s penalty expert whilst the acrobatic and popular Lightening thrilled City’s fans over the next four years.
Gates improved steadily throughout the season and the crowd at Highfield was always the highest in the division and invariably better than many Third Division and a few in the Second Division. For the visit of Millwall in October there were 21,000, then two weeks later 22,000 against Northampton. The visit of York attracted 24,000 and in December there were 27,000 for the Plymouth Cup-tie and the Torquay game on Boxing Day. Winning at home helped matters and the team lost only once in the league, to Carlisle early in the season and won 18 out of 23 games at home. The final average crowd was 16,330, bettered by only three Third Division clubs and was higher than nine Second Division clubs.
The league season was full of highlights none more so than the Monday evening home match in March with fellow promotion hopefuls and league leaders Port Vale. A crowd of 28,429 the biggest at the ground for over three years with a large following from the Potteries, saw Ray Straw grab the winning goal which left City just two points behind Vale and five points ahead of their nearest rivals. A shaky run of five games without either a win or a goal had the fans biting their nails but the team regrouped and clinched promotion on a Monday night at Millwall’s Den with a 1-1 draw. The team won many plaudits for their style of football too with football personality and Leyton Orient manager Alec Stock describing City’s display at Millwall as ‘some of the best football I have seen all season anywhere’.
Celebrations at the final home game with Watford (a 1-0 win) were muted on a miserably wet day which kept the crowd down to under 14,000. The final table had City in second place two points behind Port Vale and promoted with York City and Exeter City.
