The first competitive goal ever scored at Huish Park was turned home by the foot of striker Mickey Spencer – with a broken foot.
The former Glovers’ favourite has spoken to the Gloverscast about his memories of scoring the opener in a 2-0 win over Colchester United on the opening day of the 1990/91 season.
He said: “The build-up to the first game was incredible with a lot of excitement around the place, but a lot of people were not aware I had broken my foot in a pre-season game at Farnborough.
Picture courtesy of Tim Lancaster
“So the day of the game I turned up at the on crutches and I had to sleep with my foot elevated to get all the swelling out of it.
“Because (then-Yeovil manager) Brian Hall was such a great tactician he said to me ‘if you don’t start, the crowd are not going to be behind us’, so he said just start and if your foot swells up we can take you off.
“A guy called Duncan Russell, who was the physio at the time, loaded me up on painkillers, and we played the first half and I had to stick my foot in a ice pack at half-time.
“I remember the goal really clearly, Peter Conning pulled the ball back to me and on my broken left foot I had to strike it and I remember striking it really cleanly.
“All the guys have run towards me and I am saying ‘watch my foot, watch my foot’!”
Mickey was joined by former Yeovil full-back Neil Coates, whose winning goal in an FA Cup replay at Hereford United in December 1992 earned a money-spinning third round tie against Arsenal.
The bumper crowd for that tie with the Gunners at Huish Park together with big crowds in the games running up to the tie are widely regarded as having saved the club from going out of business.
Make sure you don’t miss Friday’s edition of the Gloverscast to hear Mickey and Neil talk about their time at Yeovil Town.