8th January 1966: Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic (1) – QPR (1)  

Football League Division 3 

Team: Springett, Watson, Langley, Keen, Hunt, Sibley, Lazarus, Collins, Allen, Sanderson, Morgan (R) 

Sub: Hazell 

Attendance: 7,616 

After the 7-2 thrashing of York City the previous Saturday, I remember travelling down to Bournemouth on the Supporters Club coach and then standing on the half-way line as R’s fans usually did in those days. Bill Marsh’s report appeared in ‘The People’ the next day: 

‘Over-confident – that was Rangers’ trouble at Bournemouth as they tried to chalk up their ninth win in a row. 

They were a goal up within minutes when a Roger Morgan shot went in off a post, and they took control of the game. But it didn’t get them any further, and the not-too-careful Rangers defence didn’t help matters. 

Bournemouth held on for an hour through a succession of Rangers’ attacks, then found a new confidence to hit back and equalise.  

Rangers swarmed back, determined to keep that winning sequence going, but Bournemouth held out with some great work by Best and finished with a renewed attack of their own to earn them a point.  

Bournemouth lost Archer two minutes after the interval, when he went down holding his back, delayed action from a first-half injury. 

Substitute Naylor played a useful part in the five-man Bournemouth move which ended with Crickmore getting the equaliser.’

And this report appeared elsewhere: 

‘One stumble stopped Rangers’ run of eight successive wins. With the scores level, QPR leader Les Allen tripped as he raced through to hammer the ball home. 

He recovered but the delay enabled Bournemouth’s Billy Coxon to race across goal and turn what would have been a certain goal into a goal-kick.  

Rangers took it too easy after grabbing a third minute lead, and they did not find their fighting form until Bournemouth equalised.  

For the first 40 minutes, Freddie Cox’s success for Bournemouth’s plan worked well, except that there was the same old fault of poor finishing.  

Rangers scored through Roger Morgan, who slipped the ball in off the post. But in the 69^th minute Crickmore headed the equaliser – on his knees.’ 

Plenty more home goals followed the next week when the R’s defeated Swansea Town 6-2.  

Steve Russell