[Lord Snooty]

February 12th:

Not one, not two, but three birthdays today. Baldy, Benny and Bully.......

First born was Darren Bullock. Born in Worcester on this day in 1969, making him 53 today. He was 24 when he signed for Town, arriving alongside Richard Logan, signed by Neil Warnock as a major coup from non league football. Bully was playing for Nuneaton and I think working as a brickie. That could be my memory playing up there. Possibly Logan was the builder. Anyway, Bully was the type of player that would've built you a wall and then smashed right through it. A proper hard man of the midfield, the likes of which we hadn't seen down Leeds Road since Chopper McGill was a lad.

He wasn't just that though. He could play a bit as well and in his Town career he notched up 21 goals from 155 (+1 sub) games for the Terriers. After us he went to Swindon and we played them at the McAlpharm in the last game of the season, he only went and joined in with our players end of term lap of honour, putting on a Town shirt as he walked around. The Swindon fans weren't happy apparently and he didn't stay much longer.

Reading his Wikipedia page flagged up a couple of things I didn't know or had forgotten. He signed for Warnock again later on in his career, going on loan to Sheffield Utd in 2001 from Bury. And in 2010, he appeared on Deal or No Deal and won a potload of cash, walking away with £13,770 after accepting the bankers offer.

A young team mate of his at Town was Simon Baldry. He was born on this date in 1976 and he's celebrating his 46th birthday today. In an injury ravaged Town career, he scored two famous goals. One of them was in the first minute of the Final Whistle match, the last ever game at Leeds Road. And the other was the goal in a 1-0 win over West Brom that completed the Great Escape in 97/98.

He almost made it to the Premier League when a deal worth a million pounds was struck with Middlesbrough, but got injured and it fell through. Sadly for the lad, he ended up dropping down the leagues. Firstly, another one who went and rejoined Warnock. This time it was at Bury. He then signed for Notts County before falling right out of the FL and played for Ossett Town, Guiseley and Bradford Park Avenue.

Much younger, born in 1993, 29 today, is Benik Afobe. He were no'but 17 when he came to us on loan from Arsenal in 2010, scoring 8 goals for us. Half of those 8 goals were scored in athletics stadiums. His first two were in a FL trophy game against Rotherham at the Don Valley and at the end of the season, he scored another couple at the Withdean against Brighton.

He can't settle anywhere though. He's had 16 moves in his career, the latest being a loan at Millwall from his parent club Stoke City.

There have been some memorable matches also on this date. A 4-3 victory over the Wednesday in 1927, with a Bob Kelly hat trick. A 1-0 win over Liverpool in 1938 in the FA Cup, on the way to the Final. A bizarre 6-4 defeat against Wolves in 1955, with Jimmy Glazzard getting a hat trick.

In 1983, we made it on to Match Of The Day. The whole country was snowbound apart from our little pocket of springtime. And so desperate were the BBC to find a game that was still on, they dipped their toes down into the 3rd Division. And our lads didn't disappoint, pulling off a magnificent 5-1 win with goals from Mark Lillis, Colin Russell 2, Keith Hanvey and Phil Wilson. Here, have a watch.

There was the LDV Vans Trophy Area Final 2nd Leg in 2002. We were 3-1 down on aggregate to Blackpool, but got it level by scoring twice in the first half through Clyde Wijnhard and Danny Schofield. But unfortunately we went and lost in extra time on the Golden Goal rule.

And then there was that FA Cup win at Leicester in 2013. We were both in the Championship, but just six weeks earlier we had got stuffed 6-1 at their place. We did better in the first Cup game, managing to get a draw, but this 4th round replay win was very unexpected. The game was on live TV, I can't remember which side it was on, but it was a cracker. We won it 2-1 with a thunderbastard of a free kick from Adam Clayton and then a superb solo effort from super Sean Scannell.

Wigan up next in the 5th round. Come on Town.