Heritage Number #709
On the final night of the 1971/72 season, Lawrie McMenemy’s Grimsby Town had the chance to win the Fourth Division title in front of their home supporters.
The Mariners sat three points clear of Southend United after 45 matches, knowing a draw against Exeter City would be enough to secure the championship. But on a night when 22,484 packed into Blundell Park, there was little appetite for simply settling for a point.
The occasion was unlike anything most had experienced. Exeter City’s team coach required a police escort to navigate its way through the crowds and traffic surrounding the ground, while supporters were entertained before kick-off by the Athol Pipe Band.
The anticipation was immense. And yet, amid all the noise and expectation, one of the most unlikely figures on the pitch was a 32-year-old Scot who, only months earlier, had hardly convinced his new manager.
When McMenemy first arrived at the Club, his initial impression of Matt Tees was far from favourable.
“I looked around for potential trouble, and my eyes fell on this fellow,” McMenemy recalled. “He was older than the others, ten stone wet through and smoking a pipe. He had legs like pipe-cleaners, he could hardly stand up.”
Any doubts, however, were quickly dispelled. Tees was the spearhead of the Mariners’ attack when they defeated the Japan national team 7-2 in pre-season, scoring a header to restore Grimsby’s lead early in the second half. Then, on the opening day of the league campaign, he struck a hat-trick against local rivals Scunthorpe United.
It was an early indication that McMenemy’s concerns had been misplaced. Tees would go on to score 27 of Grimsby’s 85 goals during a remarkable campaign, although the Scot never considered himself the star of the side.
“Mike Hickman’s took all the knocks, I reaped the benefits of his hard work,” he said.
He was equally generous in his praise of those around him, describing Stuart Brace as “a mind reader who always knew what I was doing”, while Dave Boylen was the player who “provided all the opportunities from the midfield.”
Together, they had helped create a side capable of challenging for promotion. Now, with just one game remaining, the championship was within touching distance. The significance of Exeter’s visit was not lost on Tees. The two sides had originally been due to meet earlier in the season, only for fog to force the referee to abandon the match. Its rearrangement as the final fixture seemed almost destined to happen.
“It was fate,” Tees later recalled.
Exeter, he said, were overwhelmed by the occasion, with some of their players admitting they had never experienced pressure quite like it.
“When you went on to the park you could feel it. It was electric,” Tees remembered.
During the warm-up, the players could look up and see supporters gathered on the roof of the Barrett Stand. They knew exactly what was expected.
“We can’t lose tonight.”
They didn’t. And Tees was at the heart of what followed. Exeter resisted for much of the opening period, but the breakthrough eventually arrived from a familiar source. Dave Boylen delivered a free-kick into the Exeter penalty area, and Tees rose above the visiting defence to power a towering header into the net. The tension was finally broken.
Just two minutes into the second half, Tees was involved again. Another Boylen delivery was met by the Scot, who climbed to knock the ball down for Mike Hickman to touch home and double the Mariners’ advantage.
Tees may not have been credited with the goal, but his contribution was every bit as important. His 27th league goal of the season had settled the nerves. His second major contribution of the evening helped put the championship beyond doubt. Lew Chatterley then completed the scoring with 27 minutes still to play, sending Blundell Park into raptures. The final whistle sparked scenes that Grimsby supporters had waited 16 years to experience.
For the first time in 16 years, supporters flooded onto the pitch. The players had delivered the point they needed to secure the title, but this was a celebration that belonged to everyone who had waited so long for the moment. And among the celebrations was the unlikely figure of Matt Tees. The pipe-smoking Scot who had apparently been “hardly able to stand up” when McMenemy first arrived was carried towards the tunnel by jubilant supporters.
Perhaps, then, Tees was right. He was not the sole star of McMenemy’s champions. Hickman took the knocks. Brace provided the guile and movement. Boylen supplied the opportunities from midfield. But when Grimsby Town needed somebody to rise highest on the biggest night of the season, it was Matt Tees who did exactly that. And as Blundell Park erupted around him, the 32-year-old Scot helped write his name into Mariners history.
UTM
