1961/2-Smith saves the day

In the summer of 1961 Ronnie Rooke had yet another attempt to re-stock his playing resources with, presumably, a little less money to offer than before. The team for the opening match, a goalless draw at Worcester, contained eight new players, the biggest influx since Tim Kelly’s arrival. Vernon Avis, a strong tackling right-back from Brentford, and Gerry King (Luton) were a new full back pairing, Bill Goundry, also from Brentford, a diminutive but terrier-like right-half, and Willie Morrison, from Southend formed a new pair of half-backs, and there were also two new inside forwards, Alex Stenhouse from Southend and Brian Wright from Lincoln. Dennis Heath, a third former Brentford player, started the season on the left wing but did not appear after the opening weeks, and Joe Hooley, a much-travelled centre-forward, did not survive the first week. (Funny how often “much-travelled” turned out to mean “prone to disciplinary trouble”). However, Avis and Goundry were to be features for several years.