your team's perfect pairing.....

[oakroader]

its our 30 year anniversary this year of beating arsenal in the littlewoods league cup final...
don't think i've seen a better Luton pairing in defence...Foster and Donaghy
in midfield...Hill and Wilson
or in attack...Harford and Stein
players that compliment each other so effectively......
there's been a few stars since....but not such a team....in my opinion...
thought on your own team's great partnerships ?? did you have more than one or two??

 

[dedwardp]

Jamie Cureton and Chris Iwelumo. 2005/06 in our promotion winning season from League One, Cureton scored seven goals in 10 appearances in his loan spell and Iwelumo scored 19 that year. Then the next season in the Championship, Cureton won the Golden Boot with 24 goals and Iwelumo chipped in with another 18 himself. They were the epitome of a 'big man, little man' partnership.

A Colchester United player winning the second tier golden boot as part of a 42-goal partnership is something I'm sure I'll never see again!

 

[Moomin]

Going back some years but in 89/90 when we won the old Div4 we had Darran Rowbotham and Steve Neville up front. Rowbotham was a young striker who scored 25 approx goals by March of that season but frustratingly he damaged his ankle ligaments which kept him out for a year. Neville was the wiley older pro who scored and created plenty. A deadly partnership that saw us win the league by 10 points.

Had Rowbotham not gotten the injury he would have gone on to play in the top flight as Chelsea were sniffing around. When he came back he had lost some pace so ended up staying in the bottom two tiers for his career but still scored well over 100 goals.

Other than that I’d have to go for our current centre back pairing of Troy Brown and Moore-Taylor. Very solid and good footballers too. Plus one is right sided and other left sided so they complement each other superbly. It’s just a shame they’ve both had injuries this season but hopefully they will both be back playing together very soon.

 

[valefan16]

We have some great pairings during the 90's glory days.

The 2 winged wonders of Jon McCarthy and Steve Guppy...

The strike pair of Martin Foyle and Tony Naylor...

Makes the memories harder looking at our downfall.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Rob Duffy and Kyle the fat c*** Perry take some beating for us.

 

[GTFCfish]

John Fenty and Russell Slade.

 

[PaulHaddock]

In recent times, I can only think of Liam Hearn and Anthony Elding in 11/12 - Elding got 12 and Hearn 27. I’m sure fans older than me have got better ones!

 

[Vanni]

Dunno about my lot, but I was impressed by Luton's central midfield pairing of Berry and Mpanzu. So solid.

What do you reckon oakroader

 

[shoddycollins]

In my time,

Defence: Hard to say, we've never been especially strong at the back, and when we have it's either been playing a back three or where full-backs were our most effective defenders, names that crop up include the likes of Richard Keogh, Clint Hill and Kevin Gray but in each case difficult to place them alongside someone else. I think I'll go with James Chester and Lubo Michalik, though they were only together for half a season.

Midfield: The two Chrises, Billy and Lumsdon

Attack: Michael Bridges and Karl Hawley

 

[Richard Cranium]

In all seriousness for effectiveness then I’ll say and the Imps fans will love it but Green and Rhead in the 12/13 season. That goal at Hereford will never be forgotten. Lee Williamson and Disley were a bad central midfield partnership for us either, Both products of the youth team too.

 

[oakroader]

Dunno about my lot, but I was impressed by Luton's central midfield pairing of Berry and Mpanzu. So solid.

What do you reckon oakroader

Shit stirrer....

 

[Laker]

Dion Dublin and John Taylor was pretty good, took us up two divisions and reached two FA Cup quarter finals on the trot with their goals.

In recent years, our defensive pairing of Josh Coulson and Ian Miller was the foundation of our promotion from the conference. Luke Berry and Tom Champion in front of them was pretty handy too. Those four were collosous that season.

I always felt we didn’t get as much out of our Scott Rendell/Chris Holroyd partnership as we should have done.

 

[Si Robin]

Up front then our best partnership ever is the ultimate little and large in Tony Naylor and Julian Alsop from 01/02. They scored 44 goals between them to take us up from Division 3 via the playoffs.

My favourite playing partnership was our midfield of John Finnigan and Grant McCann between 2003 and 2007. McCann was the flair player and Finners the workhorse. Together they were phenomenal, and they finally hit us the promotion we deserved in 2006.

Our ultimate partnership though is Paul Baker and Steve Cotterill. Before Cotterill took over we seemed destined to bum along in the Southern League. He got us up in his first season and Baker became chairman that summer. 5 years later we'd been promoted twice more and win at Wembley, becoming a full-time club in the process. Pretty much 3/4 of the ground has been rebuilt as well. Whilst Cotts' football might have been agricultural at times it was bloody successful, and whilst we'll never be a massive club, the foundations that were laid by the pair of them has made us the club we are today.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Crewelad87]

Not a traditional pairing but Kenny Lunt and Dean Ashton were almost telepathic whilst we were at our best riding high in the championship. Every week you could almost guarantee Goal Ashton, Assist Lunt.

 

[Smurf]

I always remember Crewe beating us 4-0 at our place and Ashton smashing in a hat trick. One of the few times I have seen a standing ovation from us for an opposition player. My old man has had a soft spot for you lot ever since.

Without question, Ashton would have went to the very top of English strikers if he stayed injury free.

 

[TimeyWimey]

Was going to say Lunt & Ashton. Cor, they were good.

I remember that Luton game. We were bloody good that season. That came around the time Ashton was just getting to full fitness after a lengthy injury and kicking us on to promotion. Ashton, Hulse, Rodney Jack and Steve Jones got something like 70 goals between them that season yet Ashton and Hulse never really hit it off as a proper partnership. Ashton was Shearer's ready made replacement for England, sickening he only ever got one sympathy cap long after Wright-Phillips had mangled his ankle.

 

[Davidimp]

In all seriousness for effectiveness then I’ll say and the Imps fans will love it but Green and Rhead in the 12/13 season. That goal at Hereford will never be forgotten. Lee Williamson and Disley were a bad central midfield partnership for us either, Both products of the youth team too.

They've got 20 between them so far this season .
Good pairings for us
Thompson and Peake at the back
Gain and Butcher in midfield
Yeo and Taylor-Fletcher up front.

 

[Maple Hatter]

its our 30 year anniversary this year of beating arsenal in the littlewoods league cup final...
don't think i've seen a better Luton pairing in defence...Foster and Donaghy
in midfield...Hill and Wilson
or in attack...Harford and Stein
players that compliment each other so effectively......
there's been a few stars since....but not such a team....in my opinion...
thought on your own team's great partnerships ?? did you have more than one or two??

Agree about Foster and Donaghy. Thought Paul Elliot was a fantastic prospect when he was with us and could have been even better than Fozzie had he stayed. Very unlucky with injuries too. Ricky could play with anyone. Agree also with Harford and Stein but Stein and Paul Walsh run them close for the short time they were together. Fantastic pairing but Walsh like Paul Elliot left us far too early. Never forget the 3-3 draw at anfield when Stein, Walsh and Moss ran Liverpool rugged.

 

[MrGloverLover]

Lee Johnson and Darren Way in midfield for us was a joy to behold. They made our team tick, the 2002-2005 team was the best i've seen in my time watching Yeovil.

Both have of course gone on into management but their success has differed somewhat.

 

[GodsGift]

Mark Stallard and Jamie Forrester.

 

[Habbinalan]

Need the passage of time to wipe out the rough edges and meet the criteria of "perfect." Thus it's Barrow AFC not the U's.

http://www.nwemail.co.uk/sport/othe...s-ago-b3e50055-e2e0-4371-ad6e-defa8cc3cd99-ds

1966/67 and 67/68 Defence - Brian Arrowsmith & Eric Harrison
1966/67 and 67/68 Right side - Jim Mallon and Roy "handbags" McCarthy
1967/68 Left side - Malcolm Edwards and Dave Storf (succeded George Pilkington who was in the 66/67 team)
1966/67 Midfield - George Smith and Mick Hartland

Fred Else, in goal, was "better than Yashin."

Strikers were the only area that didn't shine quite as well as the rest of the team in the 66/67 promotion season - but Jimmy Mulholland, Billy McAdams, Tony Field and Bobby Knox had their moments. I'd moved on before God was in his pomp but I hear Colin Cowperthwaite had a perfect partnership with his shadow - 282 goals in 704 appearances for the club between 1977 and 1992.

https://www.onefootballforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/your-first-footballing-hero.10484/

 

[gijsbert_bos]

They've got 20 between them so far this season .
Good pairings for us
Thompson and Peake at the back
Gain and Butcher in midfield
Yeo and Taylor-Fletcher up front.

Forrester and Stallard arguably the better recent forward pairing (and Yeo and GTF rarely played in a pair)

 

[oakroader]

Need the passage of time to wipe out the rough edges and meet the criteria of "perfect." Thus it's Barrow AFC not the U's.

http://www.nwemail.co.uk/sport/othe...s-ago-b3e50055-e2e0-4371-ad6e-defa8cc3cd99-ds

1966/67 and 67/68 Defence - Brian Arrowsmith & Eric Harrison
1966/67 and 67/68 Right side - Jim Mallon and Roy "handbags" McCarthy
1967/68 Left side - Malcolm Edwards and Dave Storf (succeded George Pilkington who was in the 66/67 team)
1966/67 Midfield - George Smith and Mick Hartland

Fred Else, in goal, was "better than Yashin."

Strikers were the only area that didn't shine quite as well as the rest of the team in the 66/67 promotion season - but Jimmy Mulholland, Billy McAdams, Tony Field and Bobby Knox had their moments. I'd moved on before God was in his pomp but I hear Colin Cowperthwaite had a perfect partnership with his shadow - 282 goals in 704 appearances for the club between 1977 and 1992.

https://www.onefootballforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/your-first-footballing-hero.10484/

hi Al..on the cambridge side...i can recall dion dublin and steve claridge together...wern't they a good partnership?

 

[Habbinalan]

hi Al..on the cambridge side...i can recall dion dublin and steve claridge together...wern't they a good partnership?

Before my time - I only really started following the U's when I changed jobs and got my weekends (and life) back late in the 2001/02 season. Essentially I witnessed the decline and fall, starting with the John Taylor era (although I even missed the Trophy trip to Cardiff) and would never have believed that was the best that I'd see for more than a decade. Taylor pulling on the boots again to play alongside young John Turner after we sold Dave Kitson, a succesion of comedy strikers, a sequence of cartoon standard managers and off the pitch, some heroes who rescued us from some villains.

The best striker partnership that I've seen at the Abbey (other than those with a cameo role of a few matches) requires considering the likes of Lee McEvilly, Leo Fortune West and Danny Crow (bless the little tubby scummer). Scott Rendell is the only player that rises from the memory with even a hint of aspiring to perfection.

Our 2013/14 strikers certainly don't feature. We got through the play offs despite our striking options not because of them - recalling Adam Cunnington (edit: Correction - Sam Smith) from a loan at Hereford at the end of their season and starting him at Halifax. Delano Sam-Yorke was/is so bad with his first touch that no defender knows where the ball is going and Delano just rumbles on and sometimes gets it right. Tom Elliot never seemed to manage 5 games without an injury.

I shudder even as I write those names and recall those times.

 

[AdamStag]

Rob Duffy and Kyle the fat c*** Perry take some beating for us.

Dave jervis, mark leaver, Stuart reddington, neil moore etc in our imfamous defence in league 1 side of 2002/3.

Scored more goals than champions Wigan (66) but conceded nearly 100!

 

[Luke Imp]

Agree with Forrester and Stallard for us in L2 in 2006/07. Some of the stuff they did in matches was ridiculous - they just clicked.

Defence, although not a pair, it was McCombe, Morgan and McAuley, which I think was 2005/06.

McCombe went onto the Championship pretty quickly, Morgan could have left but stayed (like Alan Marriott chose to) and as a sweeper was incredible. He was so far ahead of other players in his head that he hardly every seemed to tackle anyone. If he was a bit taller, he'd have definitely got an offer he couldn't refuse from a Club higher up the pyramid (like Marriott again). McAuley went on to be a PL defender and captain WBA and Northern Ireland.

 

[Forza Imps]

Danny and Nicky Cowley )))

 

[Richard Cranium]

Agree with Forrester and Stallard for us in L2 in 2006/07. Some of the stuff they did in matches was ridiculous - they just clicked.

Defence, although not a pair, it was McCombe, Morgan and McAuley, which I think was 2005/06.

McCombe went onto the Championship pretty quickly, Morgan could have left but stayed (like Alan Marriott chose to) and as a sweeper was incredible. He was so far ahead of other players in his head that he hardly every seemed to tackle anyone. If he was a bit taller, he'd have definitely got an offer he couldn't refuse from a Club higher up the pyramid (like Marriott again). McAuley went on to be a PL defender and captain WBA and Northern Ireland.

Alan Marriott

 

[Vanni]

Before my time - I only really started following the U's when I changed jobs and got my weekends (and life) back late in the 2001/02 season. Essentially I witnessed the decline and fall, starting with the John Taylor era (although I even missed the Trophy trip to Cardiff) and would never have believed that was the best that I'd see for more than a decade. Taylor pulling on the boots again to play alongside young John Turner after we sold Dave Kitson, a succesion of comedy strikers, a sequence of cartoon standard managers and off the pitch, some heroes who rescued us from some villains.

The best striker partnership that I've seen at the Abbey (other than those with a cameo role of a few matches) requires considering the likes of Lee McEvilly, Leo Fortune West and Danny Crow (bless the little tubby scummer). Scott Rendell is the only player that rises from the memory with even a hint of aspiring to perfection.

Our 2013/14 strikers certainly don't feature. We got through the play offs despite our striking options not because of them - recalling Adam Cunnington from a loan at Hereford at the end of their season and starting him at Halifax. Delano Sam-Yorke was/is so bad with his first touch that no defender knows where the ball is going and Delano just rumbles on and sometimes gets it right. Tom Elliot never seemed to manage 5 games without an injury.

I shudder even as I write those names and recall those times.

Minor thing really, but I think you mean Sam Smith and not Cunnington. Smith returned to the club after his final league game for Hereford, and featured in that play off semi at Halifax, and truth be told he had a decent enough game but he was let go in the summer. OTOH, Cunnington was retained and he could have got our first FL goal in nearly a decade if only he hadn't missed an early penalty (in the 9th minute iirc) at home to Plymouth.

 

[Habbinalan]

Minor thing really, but I think you mean Sam Smith and not Cunnington. Smith returned to the club after his final league game for Hereford, and featured in that play off semi at Halifax, and truth be told he had a decent enough game but he was let go in the summer. OTOH, Cunnington was retained and he could have got our first FL goal in nearly a decade if only he hadn't missed an early penalty (in the 9th minute iirc) at home to Plymouth.

Indeed.

Memory fading with age and the effects of a stinking cold I seem to have picked up on my travels. I should have done my research rather than offering flow of consciousness..............................but I'm more than happy for the detail to fade and the highlights shine through.