SEPTEMBER 5th BURST BALLS AND LOADS OF GOALS

September 5th 1936: The curious incident of Walter Ponting and the deflated football. Chesterfield beat Burnley 4-1 in a Second Division match at Saltergate – but it really should have been 5-1. A shot from Chesterfield’s Walter Ponting had beaten the opposition goalkeeper and was about to enter the net when it burst and failed to cross the line (newspaper report below). Such is life!

                                         

Walter Thomas Ponting: also known as Wally Ponting, scored 53 goals from 116 appearances in the Football League.

Full name	Walter Thomas Ponting
Date of birth	13 April 1913
Place of birth	Grimsby, England
Date of death	17 August 1960 (aged 47)
Place of death	Grimsby, England
Position	Centre Forward
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
	Humber United
1930–1936	Grimsby Town	12	(3)
1936–1938	Chesterfield	81	(35)
1938–1939	Lincoln City	23	(15)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

05 Sep 1987 Gillingham v Chesterfield W 10-0 League Division Three

Chesterfield made the sort of start to the new season all fans hope for - unbeaten after the first four League Division 3 matches without a goal being conceded. Then they visited the Priestfield Stadium for their fifth League match, against Gillingham......and lost 10-0. Amazingly in their previous home match Gillingham had beaten Southend 8-1 and in their programme notes for the Chesterfield match they had said  'you begin to wonder if the club has exhausted its quota of thrills for the season' - seemingly not! Then.....

06 February 1988   Chesterfield v Gillingham W 1-4 League Division Three

Below-Ten of the luckiest goals they will ever score!

5th September 2014 After a 503 day exile, Coventry City finally returned to their home ground, the Ricoh Arena. A row with their landlords had seen them move home to Northampton Town's Sixfields ground but a 68-mile round trip had seen their attendances nose-dive. The 27,306 Friday night crowd for their homecoming against Gillingham was more than ten times the average for their League matches at Sixfields. Coventry beat Gillingham 1-0 in their first match at the Ricoh since 20th April 2013.  Sadly in 2019 another fall-out with the Ricoh landlords saw them in exile again - this time at Birmingham City's, St Andrews ground where they remained until 2021. Wimbledon edged past Arsenal after a breathless finish featuring three goals in the final 10 minutes. Ian Wright opened the scoring for the visitors on 34 minutes but Lawrie Sanchez replied five minutes later. John Fashanu then put Wimbledon ahead in the 80th minute. Wright promptly equalised but Robbie Earle struck an 86th-minute winner for the hosts. Wimbledon climbed to 19th place with five points from seven matches, while Arsenal slipped to eighth with 10 points. Same Date in 2000: Manchester United 6-0 Bradford City Manchester United delivered a statement of intent and moved to the top of the table with a thumping victory over Bradford City at Old Trafford. Quinton Fortune and Teddy Sheringham both scored twice, in between Andy Cole's early goal and David Beckham's late strike. Man Utd claimed top spot with eight points from four matches, although they were overtaken by Newcastle United the following day. Bradford was 16th, with four points.