Reserve results 1946-71

[UPDATED DECEMBER 2018] Below are details of Reserve team results for these seasons, now expanded to include many lineups and other information.

Please read the explanation below first.

Below are links to the Eaglets' results, and lineups where known, for the 1946/7 to 1970/1 seasons, covering their time in the London, United Counties and Metropolitan Leagues.

The results are on Excel spreadsheets but you may find that clicking on Google Sheets after using the link above gives the best result.

Venues-Home games show the opponents in non-italic type eg ARSENAL "A"; away games in italic eg ARSENAL "A".

In some seasons the "A" teams of Football League clubs played both their matches against the Eaglets at the Eyrie. This is noted alongside the score in red. Later they tended to play their home fixtures on their training grounds-where this is known, the fact is also noted (London Colney for Arsenal, Woolwich Stadium or The Welsh Harp Ground, Hendon, for Chelsea, Cheshunt for Spurs, and Chadwell Heath for West Ham). The only known instances of the Eaglets playing an "A" team on their main ground are the two ML Cup finals against West Ham "A" at Upton Park in 1966/7 and 1970/1, and a few midweek matches against Luton "A" at Kenilworth Road (the venues of other away matches v Luton "A" are unknown at present but the League handbook for 1959/60 lists the Co-op Sports Ground, Stockingstone Road, as an alternative venue to Kenilworth Road). Where known these venues are noted in red against the score,

Layouts-The team layouts follow the same pattern as elsewhere on the site. The Eaglets' team is set out in bold and opponents, where known, in unbold, Below the teams are the scorers in italics, Eaglets scorers first, then a semi colon (;) and then opponents' scorers, followed by the referee where known. Question marks (??) indicate all or some of the scorers are unknown.

From 1966/7, a substitute known to have been used is shown at no 12, and the player he replaced is asterisked. Unused subs are not shown.

Where the actual lineup is not known, lineups marked

SCHED[BTFC] means a Bedford lineup as scheduled in the local press

SCHED[OPP] means an opposition lineup as scheduled in the local press

SCHED[BOTH] means both lineups as scheduled in the local press

Similarly, lineups marked PROG[BTFC], PROG[OPP] or PROG[BOTH] are those shown in programmes, either Bedford's, opposition,or both.

On a few occasions it's certain that these scheduled or programmed lineups cannot be 100% correct because at least one of the players named played for the first team that day, or because someone not in the printed lineup scored, This is noted in red where applicable.

Other brief points of interest are given below the scorers, also in red.

Players' details-details of BTFC players' careers are given under the appropriate page where they also appeared in the first team-see Players' Lists, 1945-50, Players Lists for the Best Years 1950 and Player List, 1967-82 . For information (where known) about players who never appeared in the first team see Reserves who never played for the first team.

Acknowledgements-As with the "Results and Teams" pages for first team matches, the amount of information available varies greatly. For the first few postwar seasons opponents' lineups were only rarely given in the local press. In the 50s and early 60s both teams were often given, but from then on the amount of information becomes very sparse with often neither lineup given in reports. Also, throughout the years, end-of-season midweek matches tend to be reported only very briefly.

I'm therefore very grateful to those who have helped me with lineups and scorers where the local press reports were lacking. Once again Martin Goatley has supplied a great deal of information about lineups, scorers and attendances. Others who have helped are Mike Crisp, Andy Kelly and Mark Andrews (on Arsenal "A" details), Pete Gorringe and Jerry Dowlen (Cray Wanderers), Dan Couldridge (Tonbridge), Ken Holmes (Windsor and Eton), and "Tommy" (Newbury Town). I'm also grateful to the compilers of the "West Ham United Football Programmes-a pictorial history" website ( http://whu-programmes.co.uk/) which gives West Ham "A" lineups for many of their matches. Occasionally there are discrepancies between lineups and scorers as stated in the Bedford local press, and those given by these other sources. I've adopted my usual policy of going with the "home" version, ie the Bedford press if a Bedford player is concerned, and the opposition source for one of their players, but with a note of the discrepancy in each case.

Google Sites

Report abuse