As we pushed for promotion in 1960, on this day we played Accrington Stanley , the 1st of four meetings that we had with them back in the good old days of the football league. But that isnt the only connection we have with them.

Accrington Stanley are known now as the club that wouldn't die after having to resign from the Football League mid season back in 1962 but coming back and eventually returning to League Football.

There name came back into the public domain in the 1980's due to a TV ad campaign for milk.

The advertisement featured two boys in Liverpool replica shirts It makes reference to Accrington Stanley's obscurity in comparison to Liverpool's success at the time.

Boy 1: "Milk! Urghh!"
Boy 2: "It's what Ian Rush drinks."
Boy 1: "Ian Rush?"
Boy 2: "Yeah. And he said if I didn't drink lots of milk, when I grow up, I'll only be good enough to play for Accrington Stanley."
Boy 1: "Accrington Stanley, who are they?"
Boy 2: "Exactly."

Say the words Accrington Stanley to anyone over 35 and they are likely to reply Exactly !

Although out of the Football League in 1962 they didn't go out of existence until 1966, but were reformed and steadily climbed the football pyramid, reaching the Football Conference for the 2003/04 season and the football league in 2006.

Saints do have a connection to Accrington in that Brett Ormerod started his non league career with them in 1995 before being sold to Blackpool in 1997, when he joined Saints in 2001, Accrington received a cut of the £1.75 million fee and used it towards buidling a stand to bring their ground up to the standards needed to play in the Conference.

But believe it or not Saints played them four times in third division in the seasons 1958/59 and then in our promotion season of 1959/60.

Back then they played at their old ground Peel Park, after reforming in 1968 they now play at the Crown Ground, not far from Peel Park but a different ground all together.

In 1958/59 we played them firstly at Peel Park where we drew 0-0 in front of 8,600 and in the return at the Dell we beat them 3-1 a result that mean't that we finished above them by three points.

The crowd at the Dell was actually less than up in Lancashire as gates at the Dell had virtually halved in the last few games as Saints promotion challenge had dropped away in the New Year.

The following season we again drew at Peel Park, this time 2-2 in front of only 3,300 and our last and final meeting was on this day 16th April in 1960 as we surged toward the title with 5 games left.

This time there were 20,356 in attendance around three times more than just under a year earlier and it emphasised just how the fortunes of both clubs had suddenly took sharp turns in opposite directions, Accrington were heading for relegation ad by this time were all but down.

Derek Reeves would open the scoring after only 15 minutes and on the half hour George O'Brien doubled the lead, just after the hour John Page made it 3-0 and this was the first of 3 goals in 4 minutes with O'Brien again and Brian Clifton making it five.

But if Saints fans thought that it would be an annihilation rather than a rout they would be disappointed, the only further scoring would be an Accrington penalty on 77 mins.

Perhaps Saints eased off with the game won, after all they had played the day before and were due to play again in two days time on Easter Monday.

Given that this game was 60 years ago today, there must be some Saints fans who were at this game and can lay claim to the fact that they saw Accrington Stanley play, although it is unlikely that there are many left who saw us play up at Peel Park.

Last year on the way to Burnley I made a stop in Accrington to both their current ground and also their old home at Peel Park.

PEEL PARK 2019

As you can see by the picture there is little trace of the stands left, with only some of the old banking left, although the pitch is still there and has been used for football at local level, although it is now a recreation ground open to the public and is not enclosed.

You can make out the shape of the ground around the pitch and almost see the ghosts of the old players who once graced the pitch in a football ground that once held 17,634 in 1954.

The Crown Ground has slowly been developed over the years and is now a modern albeit compact stadium holding 5,450 with over 3,000 of them seated

Although still known as the Crown Ground it is also currently known as the Wham Stadium, not after the 1980's group of the same name but after sponsor the What More Group.

The Crown Ground 2019

Photo: Action Images

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