On a day that we all wish we were playing at Yeovil Town, perhaps we should take some solace in the fact that March 28th has never been particularly kind to the Fleet!
Of the 15 times we’ve played on this day, the Fleet have won on just two occasions – in 1959 and 1970! So maybe you’re all not missing out on too much today…
Below, we’ve picked out three March 28th matches from history, plus listed at the bottom our complete record on this day… and it doesn’t make for particularly great reading.
28th March 1952
Lovell’s Athletic 6-1 Fleet
It was a trip to Wales to take on Newport’s Lovell’s Athletic, the works team of the sweet factory which boasted a professional team in the Southern League. And what a forgettable journey for the Fleet it was, having returned from the west in the previous two games with a couple of 4-1 defeats courtesy of Barry Town and Hereford United. Thoroughly outplayed, Fleet fell to their heaviest defeat of a miserable season, Roy Bicknell’s goal the only reply to six scored by Lovell’s. Fleet finished second bottom of the Southern League, our lowest placing to date. Lovell’s dropped into the Welsh League in 1959 and disbanded 10 years later. Their old ground is now a housing estate called ‘The Turnstiles’.
28th March 1970
Fleet 2-0 Cheltenham Town
Emerging from a torrid decade in the Sixties, things were beginning to look up for the Fleet as the Seventies dawned, with Alf Ackerman achieving 16th place in the Southern League First Division, the club’s highest finish since relegation in 1963. This win over Cheltenham at Stonebridge Road was the last time Fleet won on March 28th and it came courtesy of goals by Ronnie Hall and Tim Soutar in front of a 670 crowd. The Fleet side included club stalwarts such as Tony Sitford and Alan Crudace, while former England boss Roy Hodgson turned out, as well as Liam Brady’s brother Pat.
28th March 2016
Fleet 1-1 Dartford
With Sutton United breathing down Fleet’s neck in the race for the National South title, things were beginning to come a little unstuck for Daryl McMahon’s men and the last thing they probably needed was a North Kent derby. Fleet had drawn six of eight games and then lost at Weston-super-Mare in the lead-up, handing the initiative to all-conquering Sutton, while Nathan Ashmore had replaced Brandon Hall in goal. With the Darts in the play-off hunt, it was a strangely subdued derby in front of a healthy 2,435 but Matt Godden’s 37th minute sublime strike livened it up only for Ryan Hayes to equalise two minutes after the break. Danny Kedwell shaved the post late on but Fleet couldn’t gain ground on Sutton who also drew.
Other games on March 28th:
1953 Weymouth 2-2 Fleet (Att: N/A) / Loukes (2)
1955 Chelmsford City 3-1 Fleet (Att: 2,500) / Reid
1959 King’s Lynn 0-4 Fleet (Att: 2,684) / Bridge, Scarth, Thomas, Robertson
1964 Fleet 0-0 Canterbury City (Att: 546)
1967 Kettering Town 2-1 Fleet (Att: 1,476) / Francis
1981 Fleet 0-1 Northwich Victoria (Att: 971)
1983 Poole Town 1-1 Fleet (Att: 150) / Hermitage
1992 Waterlooville 2-1 Fleet (Att: 125) / Eede
1998 St Albans City 1-0 Fleet (Att: 644)
2005 Fleet 0-0 Forest Green Rovers (Att: 1,196)
2009 Kettering Town 2-1 Fleet (Att: 1,533) / Sole
2015 Concord Rangers 1-0 Fleet (Att: 552)
