A crowd of 1200 turned up at Lancing Athletic's new Culver Road ground on September 13th, 1952. It was the second match played there and the opponents were the powerful Corinthian League side Eastbourne Town, in the FA Cup. Lancing were taking part in the greatest competition of all for the third time and, as yet, they had not won a tie.
Less than half an hour after the kick-off, it looked absolutely certain that it would be at least another year before Lancing could record their first success. in the first 15 minutes, goals from Stovell, Grant, Burgess and Stovell again buried Lancing beyond recall and although Mike Smith pulled one back, Stovell and then Horne emphasised Eastbourne's superiority, giving them a 6-1 lead after 29 minutes. Even when Ken Williams popped in a second goal for the home side in the 35th minute, no-one would have imagined that one of the most incredible chapters in the Lancing story was about to be written.
Soon after half time, Williams netted again and then Fred Sallis made it 6-4. Suddenly hope was renewed and the crowd's cheers lifted Lancing to fresh heights. Williams picked out Sallis with an accurate pass and the winger made no mistake, 6-5. The miracle was within sight. Eastbourne defended frantically but there was no stopping Sallis who leveled the scores from Smith's pass, and there were 10 minutes left. Lancing had already achieved the impossible and despite all their efforts they could not complete the fairy tale with a winning goal.
The replay at the Saffrons on the following Thursday attracted 4000 eager to see another feast of goals. They were to be disappointed, at least for 90 scoreless minutes. Then after four minutes of extra time, Roy Cooper collected the ball on the halfway line, raced past three tackles and fired the shot home. Lancing were ahead for the first time in the tie. Des Smyth added a second and Durrant's reply for Eastbourne came too late. The substantial Lancing contingent in the crowd went mad.
The playing staff at the start of the season had shown few changes. Gone were Peter Phillips, returning to Goldstone with their election to the County League and Charlie Harman, back at Worthing. Des Smyth, after his spell in the Middle East, was available once more, while youngsters Smith and Cooper staked their claims for regular first team selection. Smith was affected by school demands and Cooper was called up in November, when both had established themselves as first choices.
The season opened with a 4-0 win over Bexhill at Culver Road. The stand was not yet built and players changed at Croshaw, being ferried to the new ground by taxi. Ken Williams scored the first goal there. A 3-2 win at Lewes followed. Then came the epic duels with Eastbourne, followed by a 4-4 league draw at Bognor. It was to be the last league game for nearly three months.
September's last weekend brought a trip to Bexhill for the First Qualifying Round of the FA Cup. Absentees were Ernie France, suffering from a rare injury and Smith, on County Youth duty. Cooper finished off a Sallis cross in the first minute only for Bexhill to reply almost immediately. Williams hit the decisive goal two minutes before the break.
Now it was the same round of the Amateur Cup, which meant the annual meeting with Bognor. For the second year running, Lancing came out on top, Cooper settling an awful game, scoring the only goal direct from a corner with eight minutes left.
Another single goal, from Williams this time, settled the next FA Cup-tie at East Grinstead. Meanwhile, at Woodside Road, Worthing drew 2-2 with Hastings United. All Lancing was praying for a Worthing victory in the replay and they managed it 3-1, For the first time ever, Lancing were to meet Worthing in a competitive match and urgent calls went out for volunteers to build up the Culver Road terraces for the expected 5000 crowd.
First, though, there was an Amateur Cup game at Shoreham. A brave fight by Lancing saw them snatch a 2-2 draw. When they were 2-1 down, keeper Ken Swallow went off injured and then had to come back when Charlie Braden, his replacement, also became a casualty. Cooper again scored the vital goal.
Breden was unfit to play against Worthing and most people reckoned that to be the final nail in Lancing coffin. His replacement, Tony Winstone, performed magnificently on his debut, as did his opposite number on the Worthing side, old Lancing favourite Reg Bowles. Another youngster, Dave Way, who had made his own debut seven days earlier, set up a sensation with a 58th minute goal and then Lancing had to hang on in the face of incessant pressure. A sudden breakaway in the last minute saw Knocker White on target and Lancing had achieved another great win, 2-0.
After that, the replay against Shoreham was no problem, Knocker and Way scoring twice in a 4-0 win. But it was the FA Cup that occupied everyone's thoughts, for Lancing were now in the Fourth Qualifying Round, just one match away from the chance of a crack at a Football League Club.
2340 had turned up to see Worthing at Culver Road (paying £110.8s.0d.) and there were only a few less for the clash with Isle of Wight club Newport, always a good side and at this time perhaps at their best. Lancing fought hard, but the Islanders, with nine professionals, were too experienced and won 5-1. As a matter of interest, Newport went to Swindon in the first round proper and lost 5?0.
That left the Amateur Cup and Lancing Third Qualifying Round opponents were Worthing again, at Culver Road. There was no catching Worthing by surprise this time, with brilliant displays from two former Lancing players in the front line, Harman and Vince Taylor, they stormed to a 6-1 win.
Even then, Lancing were not finished with cup football, for their next match was in the First Round of the Senior Cup, against Old Grammarians at Hove Greyhound Stadium. Hopes of another memorable run were raised with a 4-1 win.
Another visit to Eastbourne Town at the Saffrons was the Second Round task. If fortune had favoured Lancing in the earlier meeting of the clubs, it did not do so this time. To general amazement, the referee called the game off due to bad light with only four minutes left when Lancing looked set to earn a replay with the score 1-1. Instead they had to travel to the Saffrons again, to go down 2-1.
So, at last, Lancing resumed their County League efforts with their fourth match of the season on December 13th. A 4-2 win at Crawley gave them seven points from four games, leaders Whitehawk had played 12 games for their 16 points! By this time, an old servant from Brighton League days, Albert Thorne, was back in the line-up after being unavailable for Saturday football for some time.
It was too much to hope that, with so many games to make up Lancing could get into the title race and indeed defeats in the next three games, all scoreless, put them well out of the picture. They finished the season in ninth place, the worst yet, but few would have denied that it was the most exciting season in the Club's short history. Despite their moderate league position, they had a part to play at the end. In the last two games, both at home, Lancing drew 2?2 with Brighton Old Grammarians and lost 1-0 to Shoreham, a glance at the league table overleaf shows what could have happened had those scores been different.
Lancing showed their concern at the departure from the County League of so many top clubs when, in March, they called a meeting in Brighton to propose the formation of a County Superleague, an idea that is still revived from time to time. Worthing were notable absentees from the meeting and when the idea came to nothing, Lancing applied to join the increasingly strong Metropolitan League, a semi-professional set-up for which Haywards Heath, Horsham and Southwick had already deserted the County League. The Met. League always had an attraction for Sussex clubs, the moribund Hove Club had a couple of seasons in it (receiving a national mention for having the smallest Supporters Club in the country, four!) just before this period, while Crawley and Eastbourne United were later members. Perhaps, in 1953 the mainly London-based clubs were worried about too many South Coast Clubs gaining admission, for Lancing were not elected, nor were Chichester or, on this occasion Eastbourne United. A pity in some ways, maybe, for the standard in this league, which included third teams of many of the big London clubs in the days when those clubs had much bigger professional staffs, was often very high indeed.
The sad news during the summer was that Ernie France such a great servant of Lancing, was forced to retire due to an ankle injury. He became second team manager.