Back in 1985 Summers Lane was the home to Finchley Football Club who were celebrating their 110th season and playing in the Isthmian League Division Two North.
It was way before their 1991 merger of with Wingate FC to form Wingate & Finchley who play at the ground now known as The Maurice Rebak Stadium. It's now named in honour of one of the co-founder's of Wingate FC who sadly passed away in February 2016 aged 95 years old.
On Saturday 2nd February 1985 Finchley FC welcomed Wolverton Town to North London who featured goalkeeper Paul Warnecki who also played for Buckingham Town, Rushden Town, Kettering Town and Baldock Town during his career. He now runs a successful goalkeeping coaching company in Milton Keynes called goalkeeperwarz.
Defender Glynn Creaser was also included who went to star for both Barnet and Wycombe Wanderers during his playing career and now is Assistant Coach with Milton Keynes Irish who can trace their history back to the reformed Wolverton Town club as shown below.
Les Eason is featured for Finchley - although I'm unsure if this the same player who began his career in the early 1960s with Edmonton and Finchley before going to become a club legend at Barnet where he made over 600 appearances from the late 1960s through to the 1970s when he made the move to Enfield FC. That Les Eason was playing for Mount Grace (now Potters Bar Town) in 1985?
Terry Voyce, who made a handful of appearances for Barnet between 1981 to 1985 is also listed for Finchley alongside another ex Bee in Steve Foody.
Finchley went into the game on the back of two Cup games which had contrasting results. They had lost 2-1 at Steyning Town in the FA Vase followed by a memorable 1-0 win at home to Leytonstone/Ilford in the London Senior Cup which was their first win over an Isthmian Premier Division opponent in nearly 5 years! Dave Busby had been the only goal scorer of the game.
Wolverton Town were in their first season in the Isthmian League having moved over from the Athenian League. They had spent the 82/83 season in the London Spartan League and previous to that been members of the United Counties League.
There is profile on 'great Finchley players of the past' which details George Robb's amazing career. He joined the club as a 16 year old during the Second World War. Tottenham Hotspur out in a bid of £8,000 for his services in 1951 after as an Amateur player he had helped them defeat Charlton Athletic at The Valley on Christmas Day by scoring one and setting up the other two goals. During his time as an Amateur player he gained seventeen England Amateur caps and played for Great Britain at the 1952 Summer Olympics.
He eventually signed for Spurs in September 1953 after turning down a moved to Italian club Padua after they had bid £6,000.
He made one appearance for the England full International team in 1953 in the 'Match of the Century' when a Ferenc Puskas inspired Hungary won 3-6 at Wembley Stadium. The England side included Alf Ramsey, Billy Wright and Stanley Matthews. He retired for playing professionally in 1958 following an serious injury. He sadly passed away in December 2011.
Finchley finished the season as runner's up ironically to Leyton-Wingate with Wolverton Town in sixteenth place of a twenty team league - Epping Town had withdrawn midway though the season and their record was expunged. Finchley spent two seasons in Division One before relegation to D2N where they stayed until the merger with Wingate in 1991.
Wolverton Town moved to Division One after being runner's up in D2N in the 86/87 season. After just one season at that level where they won just 3 from 42 league games played they withdrew from the league. There were some name changes to follow in MK WOLVERTON TOWN and AFC WOLVERTON before the original club sadly folded in 1992.
In 2004 the club were reformed and played Sunday football in the Milton Keynes area - that club became Unite MK in July 2016 who later merged to form Milton Keynes Irish.
The original Wolverton Town had been formed in 1887 and between 1889 to 1890 has been known as "Newport Pagnell & Wolverton London & North Western Railway Amalgamated Association Football Club" hence their nickname at one time being '"The Railwaymen". This is thought to be the longest football club name in British football history.
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