ARCHIVE 1992/93`

Summer signings were Rick Ranshaw from Bridlington Town, Ged Creane from Grantham Town, Dean Dye and Barrington Barker from Boston FC and Adi Barker from Lincoln City. Mark Frecklington joined for a short spell but lack of opportunities saw him return to Hykeham Town.

The season started with a bang when Nottingham Forest brought a full first team to open the Brian Smith Memorial Dressing Rooms. Forest beat us 6-1 with Dave Parkin scoring our goal. The Forest side included Stuart Pearce, Roy Keane, Teddy Sheringham, Nigel Clough and our own Gary Crosby.

A dour opening game saw Steve Carter score a late winner against Immingham Town in a 2-1 victory. By the end of September we had five straight league wins but with Allen Crombie needing an operation the midfield fell apart and we had a dreadful October, When we scarped a 3-2 win at Selby Town in November it was our first league win since September 26th.

By the end of 1992 the league table showed us top with 29 points from 14 games but hot on our heals were Yorkshire Amateur, Parkgate, Hucknall Town and Hallam. United won all five games in January scoring 23 goals ,including 7 against Garforth, 6 against Worsborough Bridgeand 5 against Tadcaster. Leading scorer Tony Simmons scored in all five games.

By the end of February it was a two horse race for the title between the Whites and Hucknall Town. Yorkshire Amateurs came to Ashby Avenue and parked the bus in front of their goal but a Tony Simmons penalty after Rick Ranshaw was fouled was enough to secure three points and end Amateurs promotion hopes.

Ranshaw scored a late winner at Hucknall and the title was ours to lose. We needed a win at home to Brodsworth and having gone 2-0 up early in the game we let our guard down. We conceded before half-time and Player-Manager Allen Crombie had to go in goal following Kev Wright’s sending off. Wright’s foul led to a penalty which Crombie saved.That meant the title was ours and then we heard that Bradley Rangers might be thrown out of the league and their record expunged, that meant we needed a point to be certain. We got that at Hallam on Easter Monday so all was well.

Bradley failed to complete their fixtures and their record was expunged but the final table saw us crowned as champions five points clear of Hucknall Town.

Tony Simmons was leading scorer with 30 goals from 38 appearances, Rick Ranshaw netted 23, Dean Dye 15 and Steve Carter 11 as United amassed 117 goals in all competitions. We went out of the FA Cup at home to Frickley following a draw at their place. We went out of the FA Vase at Burscough having knocked Ilkeston out in the previous round. We lost in final of the Evans Halshaw Cup at Mansfield Town’s Field Mill. Leek Town beat us 3-2.

United’s current assistant-manager, Darren Dye made 40 appearances during the season as did Steve Carter. Defenders Paul Ward(43) and Rick Wright(42) made the most appearances.