Erith & Belvedere   5         Johnson pen 7, 13, pen 49, 52, 87

Tooting & Mitcham            2         Leonard 56, Fillery 90

London Senior Cup 1st round, 21 November 1964

 

Continuing the series counting down the 100 most memorable games in our history.  Today, the best day (out of many contenders) in Colin Johnson’s Deres career.

 

Colin, who debuted for the Deres on Easter Monday 1961, had already established himself as one of our finest ever marksmen, breaking the club scoring record for a season with 37 in his first full campaign, 1962-63.  After an injury-hit ’63-64 season, he was back on song, and captained the side in his 100th appearance, which came during a run of 15 goals in nine games, culminating in this outstanding show:

 

JOHNSON HIT ALL FIVE IN DERES’ GREAT WIN

 

Erith and Belvedere staged a five-star performance to put Tooting and Mitcham out of the London Senior Cup by 5-2 at Belvedere on Saturday.  It was a personal triumph for inside-left Colin Johnson, who scored all five.

 

This exactly reverses the score when they last met in the same competition at Sandy Lane in 1959, and this most satisfying result for some seasons gave Johnson a memorable opportunity to record his remarkable effort by equalling the five goals that George Jarvis scored at Dulwich in 1945 when Deres beat Tooting in the LSC final.

 

Having seen Tooting lose at home to Oxford City the previous Saturday, manager Frank Reed had his plans for the day mapped out in good time, but it needed only two minutes to give Deres their instructions, and right nobly they played to them.  They must have spent three quarters of the game on the attack, with Granville making an almost permanent six-strong front line and Moore doing a lot of running to cover any gaps.

 

Skipper Crawford and full-backs Hibberd and Mann contained the Tooting forwards so well that Sterling had only three direct shots to contend with.  Wingers Bernard and Morrissey had all the room they wanted to use their speed, and none were happier after the game than these two talented young men.  The two Terrys, Carter and West, roamed and worried without a break to cause havoc and panic among the visiting defenders.  All in all, Deres never looked anything but winners from the first whistle.

 

They went down from the start and Johnson robbed the goalkeeper in the third minute to net the ball, but a doubtful offside decision delayed them opening the scoring until the seventh minute.  Johnson was going through when he was tripped and he netted easily from the spot.

 

The first visiting raid did not come until another five minutes had gone.  Crawford had not touched the ball up to then, and immediately came the second goal.  The ball came through and bounced just right for Johnson to flick it over the defenders’ heads into an empty net.

 

Tooting were all mixed up by the constant pressure and scrambled off the line efforts by Granville and Johnson.  Just before half-time they had a chance to pull one back with a nice opening, but the shot went high and wide.

 

Deres continued on top after the break and within seven minutes were four up through a penalty for hands, although the ball did appear to cross the line also, and from a magnificent header from a great centre by Bernard, both scored by the irrepressible Johnson.  His penalty shot was almost saved by Baldwin, but he finally went in with the ball to make Deres supporters almost delirious.

 

Tooting began to look a little more like the fine side they obviously are, and did score with a free kick, shot past a line of defenders by Leonard after 56 minutes.

 

Deres soon came back to dictate the pattern, with their wingers having plenty of the ball and making good use of it.  Hibberd and Mann also came up and in fact Mann had commendable shots in each half.

 

The fifth goal came with three minutes to go.  Morrissey put a fine ball over for Johnson to soar up and nod in to complete a great match.

 

In the final seconds Charman crossed the ball for left-back Fillary to end the scoring.  Deres hope for another good home tie in the next round with an Isthmian club: they always play better against them.

 

Deres: Alan Sterling; Eric Hibberd, Derek Mann, Roy Granville, Dennis Crawford, Ron Moore, John Morrissey, Terry West, Terry Carter, Colin Johnson, Dickie Bernard.

 

 

A fortnight later a strike against Wokingham gave Colin Johnson his 100th goal for Deres, and he finished with 39 for the season, another new record.  He topped even that the following season with 43, which remained the club record until Harry Harding’s exploits in 2018-19.  At the end of that season he left for … Tooting and Mitcham – where he notched 46 more goals in 1966-67.