Saints were stars of 60s football

FOR two reasons, the sixties can truly be described as a golden era and the best ever for Guernsey club football. For a start, there was that wonderful St Martin's side, in the eyes of many still the finest one in the history of the local game.

Then, there was the Upton Park record, Guernsey's best in the 100 years of the competition.

Our Priaulx champions went through the entire swinging sixties losing only one match, including a seven-year winning streak.

Bels got the ball rolling with a win over Oaklands in 1960 and North did their bit for the Sarnian cause with a hat-trick of wins before mighty Saints took over with four more.

In 68 they lost their unbeaten record, but hit back to win the next three.

The side was continually evolving under the official stewardship of Jack Loveridge, John's father, and then briefly Frank Mackwood.

But in England's World Cup-winning year, the side were arguably at their peak, still young and hungry, playing football which nobody in the history of St Martin's AC could ever have dreamt of.

It's a shade ironic, then, that the 66 side had to come through a title play-off with the new-look Vale Rec side to claim their place in the Upton final and match the other four great sides featured in this series, of landing the Priaulx, Upton and Jeremie in the same season.

The preface to all this came at the end of the previous season when, having helped fire Saints to title glory, Tony Williams, their talented, flying winger from the UK, announced he was quitting the club.

'No disrespect, boys, but I'm going to get together a team to beat you,' recalled Henry Davey of a player who headed off to the Corbet Field in an attempt to create a more competitive product for the local football public.

Saints won the play-off 3-1 and survived a battering from the Rec who were aided by some lenient whistling by ref Al Lambourne.

'They really kicked seven bales out of us,' said Davey.

'But one thing we could do was handle ourselves and look out for each other.'

The vast majority of the Saints side were in their early 20s, the oldest 'Dooney' Russell at 28 and youngest, Davey 18.

Ahead of the game, Rex Bennet wrote: 'All Guernsey expects them to win handsomely and even in Jersey, Tower are credited with little chance of snapping their island's six-year losing streak.'

Saints came into the game having scored 78 goals in 16 league games, Loveridge leading the way with 22, Renouf contributing 11, Davey and Wally Torode 10 apiece and Russell and Arthur Pugh both nine.

Saints were ahead after just two minutes, Russell heading a stupendous opener from the edge of the area.

Renouf, who provided the ball, recalls it clearly.

'It was a free-kick 10 yards inside our half and Dooney met it perfectly.

'You don't forget goals like that.'

But it was three in five minutes at the start of the second half that killed off the Tower and their strong Scottish contingent.

'It all happened so quick,' recalls the then Upton debutant and now Saints club president.

'I basically battered the hell out of Beckett. I gave him a bit of a runaround,' he remembers.

And as Tower produced the Jersey Muratti defence, it was Davey's performance that day that won him a shock call-up for the Muratti replay won at the Track.

It seems unfathomable that during this period Jersey won Muratti after Muratti while Saints, and North before them, dominated the Upton.

Davey has his view why.

'Tower always placed nice, pretty football but they didn't have a lot of penetration.

'We used to soak up pressure and break quickly through Pughie and Wally.'

Waiting in the middle was Davey and one of the finest ever finishers in local football, the lightning quick Loveridge.

And more Saints players in the side might have produced better Muratti results, Renouf argues.