24th Sept 1966 - Happy birthday & a debut goal to, for me, an iconic Boro legend

[erimus74]

John Hickton, 80 years young was born in Brimington, a large village in the Borough of Chesterfield, turned 22 on the day he made his goalscoring Boro debut

On this day 1966, to me, Mr Middlesbrough, John Hickton, starts life at the Boro when Workington Town were our visitors Ayresome Park for this Saturday afternoon 3rd division game

Prior to the Workington Town game we had lost both of our home games so far, Bristol Rovers 2-1 & Oldham 2-0, our only points on the board were won away from Ayresome Park, an opening day 3-2 win at Colchester United & a 1-1 draw at Oxford United

Boro were bottom of the league, finding life tough in the 3rd division & here we faced Workington Town who had lost only the fixture, while winning the previous 3 games leading up to the match

Boro manager Stan Anderson knew he needed to sign players if he wanted to halt the slide & the unthinkable of the Boro dropping in to the 4th division

One of Stans 1st signings in his quest to turn the clubs fortunes around to pay Sheff Weds £20k for big John signature

October 1995 Bryan Robson & Keith Lamb persuaded Juninho to sign for the Boro because they took the time & effort to travel to his home in Brazil, 29 previous on the  23rd September club secretary Harry Green done the very same (not as far as Brazil mind) being instrumental in John Hickton signing for the Boro, he drove to his home in Chesterfield to complete the signing, apparently other clubs were interested in signing John Hickton but Harry got in first, well done Harry, we are forever in your debt

Middlesbrough were at the foot of the 3rd division table when John Hickton, wearing the No5 shirt, registered No459, made his debut playing at centre half, due to CH Dickie Rooks out injured

Within the first 20 minutes Boro were trailing 2-0 big John must have wondered what he'd let himself in for as the player he was marking & struggling against, was Max Tolson, had scored twice in the opening 17 minutes

Then Boro's fortunes lifted when in the 37th minute we were given a lifeline, the ref awarded Boro a penalty, no one would step forward to take it. John Hickton then asked who the penalty taker was & was told it was Dicky Rooks, who wasn't playing.

Big John took full responsibility, picked up the ball, placed it on the penalty spot, stepped up & smashed it in to the net, bringing us back in to the game at 2-1, Boro's 147th penalty & becoming the 83rd different player to score on his Boro debut, the penalty king's goalscoring life at Ayresome Park 

HT - Boro 1 Workington Town 2

The goal proved to be the turning point for the Boro who played with a lot more confidence after the break & with 18 minutes remaining Billy Horner's pass was flicked on by David Chadwick & Arthur Horsfield cracked the ball home from close range, 2-2

With 5 minutes remaining & the crowd in full voice Boro grabbed the winner, John O'Rourke drove in a cross which Arthur Horsfield met at the far post to head home

3-2 to the mighty Boro

We got the 2 points, our first home win of the season & a legendary penalty king was born

 
On promotions winning seasons you look back at certain games, turning points & that game must be high in the list of games

 

Stans Boro team

 
Des McPartland
Geoff Butler
Gordon Jones
Ian Davidson
JOHN HICKTON
Billy Horner
David Chadwick
Arthur Horsefield
John O'Rourke
Jim Irvine
James Lawson.

 
They say you should never meet your hero, well they got it totally wrong with John Hickton, I've been lucky enough to have met the great man a number of times, sat on the stage with him to sign some of my merchandise & also, unbelievably received a good luck message & photo on the day of my daughters wedding

John Hickton went on to make 482 appearances between 1966/1978, scoring 185 goals, including 5 hat tricks, Torquay, Barnsley (our last league cup hat trick scored at Ayresome Park, Plymouth, QPR & Orient & once scored 4 goals at home against Hull City in a 5-3 win 

Happy birthday John Hickton a true iconic legend for me