Season 1995-96

A highlight of the 1995/96 pre-season was the visit of Newcastle United, with David Ginola and Les Ferdinand making their debuts, when 4,600 watched the Premiership giants triumph 3-1. A long FA Cup run ended with a home First Round Proper defeat at the hands of Cardiff City.

After one or two jitters the season climaxed in May, when 4,664 people, then a ground record, witnessed a 3-2 victory over Merthyr Tydfil to secure the Southern League Championship and a place for Roger Ashby’s side in the Football Conference. That team had included Garry Butterworth, Darren Collins, Graham Benstead, Andy Kirkup and Nick Ashby.

The game at Gresley Rovers on 14th October 1995 was the 200th in the Diamonds History – see here for a reflection on that milestone.

See below for a match summary as well as links to match reports. The final league table for the season can be seen here.

See here for a detailed summary of all the games during the season, including team-line up for each game and match timings.

Date	V	Lge	Opponent	Result	Scorers	Att
Sat 29/07/95	H	HSCF	Kettering Town	Drew 2-2 AET	Wooding, Wilkin	1927
Mon 31/07/95	A	HSCFr	Kettering Town	Drew 2-2 AET	Collins, Wilkin	1509
Sat 19/08/95	H	BHP	Salisbury	Won 3-0	Wilkin, Kirkup, Collins	1532
Mon 21/08/95	A	BHP	Chelmsford City	Won 2-1	Spooner, Watkins	1003
Sat 26/08/95	H	BHP	Crawley Town	Won 3-1	Butterworth, Watkins/2	1611
Mon 28/08/95	A	BHP	Burton Albion	Lost 2-4	Watkins, Collins	901
Sat 02/09/95	A	BHP	Hastings Town	Won 1-0	Watkins	552
Tue 05/09/95	H	BHP	VS Rugby	Won 6-1	Ashby, Wilkin, Watkins/3, Bailey	1624
Sat 09/09/95	H	FAC1q	Grantham Town	Won 4-1	Collins/3, Wilkin	1681
Sat 16/09/95	A	BHP	Worcester City	Drew 0-0	–	960
Tue 19/09/95	H	BHP	Chelmsford City	Won 2-1	og, Collins	1747
Sat 23/09/95	H	FAC2q	Eastwood Hanley	Won 1-0	Collins	1652
Sat 30/09/95	A	BHP	Cheltenham Town	Won 2-0	Kirkup, Collins	1122
Tue 03/10/95	H	DMC1/1	Kings Lynn (2)	Void 0-1	–	1262
Sat 07/10/95	A	FAC3q	Sandwell Boro	Won 6-1	Wilkin/4, Collins/2	250
Sat 14/10/95	A	BHP	Gresley Rovers	Won 3-0	Hannigan, Collins, Butterworth	808
Sat 21/10/95	A	FAC4q	Purfleet	Drew 1-1	Hannigan	794
Tue 24/10/95	H	FAC4qr	Purfleet	Won 3-1	Watkins, Collins, Wilkin	2850
Sat 28/10/95	A	BHP	Merthyr Tydfil	Won 3-0	Collins, Kirkup, Watkins	464
Wed 01/11/95	H	DMC1/1	Kings Lynn	Won 1-0	Collins	1098
Sat 04/11/95	H	BHP	Stafford Rgrs	Won 5-1	Wooding, Watkins, Wilkin/2, Hackett	2078
Tue 07/11/95	H	HSCQF	Long Buckby	Won 4-0	Nuttell/2, Kirkup, Watkins	574
Sat 11/11/95	H	FAC1	Cardiff City	Lost 1-3	Hannigan	4214
Wed 15/11/95	A	BHP	VS Rugby	Won 3-1	Wilkin/3	741
Sat 18/11/95	A	BHP	Gravesend & Nft	Won 3-1	Wilkin, Collins, Smith	658
Tue 21/11/95	H	BHP	Burton Albion	Won 2-0	Wilkin, Collins	1651
Sat 25/11/95	H	BHP	Atherstone Utd	Won 7-3	Hackett, Hannigan, Collins/4, Ashby	2231
Tue 28/11/95	H	BHP	Baldock Town	Won 3-0	Collins, Kirkup, Wilkin	1922
Sat 02/12/95	A	BHP	Crawley Town	Drew 2-2	Wooding, Collins	1118
Tue 05/12/95	A	DMC1/2	Kings Lynn	Lost 0-2	–	432
Sat 09/12/95	A	BHP	Dorchester Town	Drew 1-1	Wilkin	684
Tue 12/12/95	H	BHP	Gloucester City	Won 3-2	Kirkup, Collins/2	1666
Sat 16/12/95	H	BHP	Hastings Town	Drew 1-1	Watkins	1946
Sat 23/12/95	H	BHP	Ilkeston Town	Won 3-0	Wilkin, Hackett, Watkins	2312
Tue 26/12/95	A	BHP	Baldock Town (9)	Void 0-0	–	–
Sat 13/01/96	A	BHP	Atherstone Utd	Won 3-1	Wilkin, Collins/2	605
Sat 20/01/96	H	FAT1	Purfleet	Lost 0-1	–	1906
Tue 30/01/96	H	HSCSF	Raunds	Won 1-0 AET	Collins	904
Sat 03/02/96	H	BHP	Worcester City	Won 1-0	Collins	2197
Sat 10/02/96	H	BHP	Gravesend & Nft	Lost 2-3	Watkins, Collins	1841
Tue 13/02/96	A	BHP	Baldock Town	Won 3-0	Stott, Collins/2	854
Sat 17/02/96	H	BHP	Cheltenham Town	Won 4-1	Watkins, Kirkup/2, Wilkin	2472
Sat 24/02/96	A	BHP	Newport	Drew 1-1	Ashby	1170
Tue 05/03/96	H	BHP	Sudbury Town	Won 3-1	Collins, Hackett, Kirkup	1409
Sat 16/03/96	A	BHP	Cambridge City	Won 2-0	Collins, Hannigan	750
Tue 19/03/96	A	BHP	Halesowen Town	Drew 0-0	–	1725
Sat 23/03/96	A	BHP	Ilkeston Town	Drew 1-1	Hackett	1009
Tue 26/03/96	A	HSCF	Rothwell Town	Lost 0-1	–	511
Sat 30/03/96	H	BHP	Halesowen Town	Lost 1-2	Alford	3481
Thu 04/04/96	H	BHP	Dorchester Town	Lost 0-1	–	1823
Sat 06/04/96	H	BHP	Cambridge City	Won 2-1	Collins, Alford	2135
Mon 08/04/96	A	BHP	Sudbury Town	Lost 1-4	Alford	918
Sat 13/04/96	H	BHP	Newport	Won 3-0	Collins, Alford, Ashby	2914
Tue 16/04/96	H	BHP	Gresley Rovers	Won 2-1	Collins, Alford	2250
Sat 20/04/96	A	BHP	Gloucester City	Lost 1-2	Collins	1226
Wed 24/04/96	A	BHP	Salisbury	Won 2-0	Collins, Kirkup	596
Sat 27/04/96	A	BHP	Stafford Rangers	Won 4-0	Kirkup/2, Alford, Hackett	1160
Sat 04/05/96	H	BHP	Merthyr Tydfil	Won 3-2	Butterworth, Collins, Alford	4664

Notes

Note 2: Match declared void after Kings Lynn fielded ineligible player

Note 9: Match abandoned after 25 minutes due to frozen pitch