DREAM TEAM
Rob Dickinson
My love for TUFC was a bit of a slow burner starting off when I was 7 or 8 with a one-off game around 1980 when I was taken by my grandparents on a bitterly cold winter’s night. Thereafter was only able to go to very few games in the 1980s, was an occasional supporter in the 1990s and only at the beginning of the century did I get the bug of watching live football regularly. Even this was temporarily brought to a screeching halt with the birth of my twins in Spring 2003 and sadly missed all of the following promotion season although at least got to see the majority of Leroy’s side in 2002-2003.
GOALKEEPER – BOBBY OLEJNIK
Class goalkeeper, made League 2 team of the year and was comfortable at Championship level. Good name as well!
LEFT BACK – LIAM DAVIS
Played both behind and in front of Jake Andrews in our promotion season. Inaugural winner of the Twitchin award and nice guy to boot.
RIGHT BACK – PAUL HOLMES
Very sadly no longer with us but saw him in both spells at the club and someone that made it in the Premiership.
CENTRE BACK – GUY BRANSTON
First rose to prominence playing against us but firm fans favourite thereafter and led our defence well.
CENTRE BACK – DARREN MOORE
Remember him as a young strong centre back that really stood out and another fans favourite.
LEFT WINGER – KEVIN HILL
Gave everything for the club and a fantastic header of the ball. Record appearance holder and club legend in every way.
MIDFIELDER – ALEX RUSSELL
He controlled the midfield and had a great eye for a pass. Made PFA Division 3 team of the season twice.
MIDFIELDER – EUNAN O’KANE
Came to us from Northern Ireland as a young lad and pleasure to see him develop, initially playing on the right wing before becoming our best player in the centre of midfield and showing Argyle fans what he was made of.
RIGHT WINGER – WAYNE CARLISLE
Fantastic crosser of the ball and those nightmares of him coming on and changing the match in our play-off game against Exeter were banished the following season with that dream cross at Wembley for Sills to head home and seal our promotion back into the Football League.
STRIKER – DAVID GRAHAM
Think we saw the best of him and never realized his potential but great touch and some fantastic memories.
STRIKER – RODNEY JACK
Incredibly quick and in those few games I saw him play he just absolutely stood out as a class above those around him.
SUBS
Lucas Covolan – will always be remembered for that header but very good goalkeeper in his own right and showed us what we were missing with a good performance for Maidstone at Plainmoor last year.
Mark Ellis – strong defender with good pace came to us initially on loan before signing as a teenager and played a key part in the successful Buckle/Ling years.
Ben Whitfield – little pocket rocket of a winger.
Rene Howe – led the line for us really well during that Ling season and just a pity he got injured as the side ran out of steam a few weeks too early, with promotion just out of our grasp.
Jamie Reid – from zero to hero, finally getting the confidence to realise his potential scoring a hatful of goals for us after a poor start, leaving us with many fond memories.
THE MANAGER – PAUL BUCKLE
Built up the side virtually from scratch to get us back into the Football League. Was ruthless in continuing to improve the side, initially saving us from relegation and then taking us into the League 2 play-offs. Earned a packet from cup runs taking us into the third and fourth rounds of the FA Cup and a first Wembley appearance in the FA Trophy to help enable him to make the necessary improvements.
COYY – ROB
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