Once again, on a matchday that has slipped away from us this season, instead of taking on AFC Fylde, we take a look through the archives at previous April 4ths…
4th April 1983
Addlestone & Weybridge Town 3-0 Fleet
Fleet were coasting towards lower mid-table in our first season following relegation from the Alliance Premier League and we sure coasted into this fixture. Having beaten Addlestone & Weybridge Town at home in our first ever meeting on Easter Saturday, we met them away two days later. The Surrey club had begun their rise in the late Seventies having entered the Southern League as Addlestone FC, with a largely amateur history. They achieved promotion to the Southern Premier in 1982 but struggled and finished bottom in their one and only season, scoring just 24 goals and winning five games. Naturally, three of those goals and one of those wins came against the Fleet in our only ever visit to Liberty Lane. Just 194 watched this one as Addlestone wiped the floor with the Fleet who were sufficiently humiliated to end the season on a relative high, losing just one of the final eight games to finish 10th. Addlestone survived one more season a division down but their ground was sold in 1985 and the club was dissolved in its centenary season.
4th April 1989
Fleet 3-1 Andover
Having lost a top-of-the-table clash at home to Chelmsford the week before and suffered a frustrating goalless draw at Dunstable, Fleet got their promotion ambitions back on track with this routine Tuesday night win over Andover. It kept us four points clear of nearest challengers Poole Town. A John Palmer brace and another from Colin Blewden secured the points as Fleet hit a run of form at just the right time. This was the first of five straight wins that secured runners-up spot and the club’s first promotion for 14 years – despite losing our final two matches of the season. It seemed the locals weren’t quite in tune with success at this stage, however, with only 403 in the ground to see it.
4th April 2009
Fleet 1-0 Northwich Victoria
Amidst an undercurrent of worry and signs of financial troubles ahead due to low MyFC renewals, Fleet’s season of promise had turned into a fight to stay up. With plenty of games in hand, it didn’t seem an issue but the fact the club had to play 20 matches in the final two months, 11 of them in the last 25 days alone, meant nothing was certain. This win over Northwich Victoria – which all but relegated them – was the third victory in four days for the Fleet and came courtesy of a single James Smith goal in front of 1,003 at Stonebridge Road.
Other games on April 4th:
1947 Fleet 2-2 Dartford (Att: N/A) / Wakeman (2)
1951 Fleet 2-1 Guildford City (Att: 1,456) / Hawkins (2)
1953 Tonbridge 3-1 Fleet (Att: N/A) / Loukes
1955 Fleet 4-2 Worcester City (Att: 2,200) / Neary (2), Logie, Stweart
1958 Fleet 5-1 Tonbridge (Att: 3,279) / Day (2), Thomas, Shaw, Scarth
1962 Fleet 3-2 Clacton Town (Att: N/A) / Williams (2), Huckstepp
1964 Folkestone Town 4-0 Fleet (Att: 937)
1969 Brentwood Town 2-2 Fleet (Att: 1,814) / Newton (2)
1970 Fleet 0-0 Cambridge City (Att: 771)
1981 Altrincham 2-0 Fleet (Att: 850)
1988 Corinthian 2-2 Fleet (Att: 521) / Baxter, Bosson
1992 Fleet 1-1 Crawley Town (Att: 448) / Cotter
1994 Burnham 1-1 Fleet (Att: 310) / Warrilow
1995 Fleet 1-0 Chelmsford City (Att: 695) / Munday
1998 Basingstoke Town 2-1 Fleet (Att: 536) / Portway
2006 Fleet 1-3 Grays Athletic (Att: 1,222) / Bradley Johnson
Pl: 19 / W: 7 / D: 6 / L: 6
