David Pearce, born at Perivale in 1960, made his Football League debut for Millwall in November 1977. He then played for Barnet, Wealdstone and Dagenham, before joining Harrow Borough. In January 1982 Roy Ruffell brought him on loan to Church Road, with a view to solving his goalscoring problems. On his debut at Carshalton, Pearce scored both goals in a 2-2 draw, but after only five matches he was allowed to return to Harrow. Hayes’ loss was very much Harrow’s gain: in 1982-3, his goals helped Harrow reach the semi-finals of the FA Trophy. Unaccountably, after winning 2-0 at Telford in the first leg, Harrow went down 1-5 in the home leg. Next season, Harrow won the Isthmian League championship by a record 17 points. During his time at Harrow, Pearce scored 153 goals and is the club’s highest scorer. He also won a semi-professional international cap in 1984 against Italy. He joined Wokingham Town for a four-figure fee in 1987, and took part in their run to the semi-finals of the FA Trophy again in 1987-8, where his club was knocked out by Telford United – how he must have grown to hate Telford. He joined Kingstonian in 1990, and moved for a second time to Hayes in 1992, but soon returned to Kingstonian in February 1993, when he was offered a contract and better pay. A year later he was reunited with Terry Brown, his former coach at Wokingham, and stayed with Hayes until the end of the victorious 1995-6 season. Curiously, his last game, as his first, was at Carshalton – this time he did not score, but his team won 3-0 to gain promotion to the Conference. Unwilling to travel all over the country, with a demanding job in the City of London, Pearce joined Chertsey Town, then Sutton United, Hampton and Basingstoke Town, before finally retiring in his late thirties. In his three spells at Church Road, he made a total of 118+9 appearances and scored 56 goals – but Hayes sadly missed the best of him.

Lance Pedlar was a popular centre-forward of the early 1990s. Born at Paddington, he came to Hayes from Leatherhead at the age of 25 in 1991, having previously played for Wealdstone, Wembley, Chelmsford City, Bath City, Ruislip Manor, Hounslow, St Albans City (1989-90), Woking (1990 on loan, then permanent), and Harrow Borough (1991). During two and a bit seasons at Church Road, he made 80+12 appearances and scored 20 goals, including the almost unique experience of a winning goal at Stevenage in March 1993. He left for Wealdstone in 1994, before going to Spain to work in Barcelona.

Although he made only 10 appearances for Hayes, Gordon Phillips merits his place here because of his subsequent achievements.  A Mellow Lane Schoolboy and son of popular Hayes supporter Dave Phillips, he made his debut in goal at the age of only 15 in April 1962, and played in the semi-final of the Middlesex Charity Cup, together with a 16-year-old Dave Bassett. But, in the final league game at Barnet, he broke a bone at the base of a thumb and missed the final of the county cup. Next season he made seven more appearances and played in an England Youth trial. But he was obviously destined for higher things and joined Brentford, making his debut in a goalless draw with Walsall in April 1965, which was seen by the present author. He spent almost eight seasons alternating the goalkeeping spot with Chick Brodie, making a total of 227 appearances for the Bees. In Brentford’s promotion season of 1971-2 he played in all 46 league games. He joined Hillingdon Borough in 1973 and was later goalkeeping coach at Staines Town (1989-90) and Brentford (1991-2) under Phil Holder.

I feel sure that a book could be written about Norman Pickford. Born in 1913, living at Tudor Road, Hayes End and working at Kraft’s Cheese Factory, he played for Botwell Wanderers before joining Hayes. He made his début for Hayes in March 1934 and scored a hat-trick in only his third match. Next season he made the centre-forward spot his own, displacing regular Joe Hunter. But, after making one appearance in 1935-6, alongside Leslie Smith, Maurice Batchelor and Hunter, he joined Wealdstone – the first sign that he had a mind of his own. At Lower Mead he scored 12 goals in 17 games, before returning to Hayes for the start of the 1936-7 season. But he was unable to gain a regular first-team place and spent more time playing in the reserves, and also had a stint with Southall. In the last season before the advent of war, he converted to full-back or wing-half. Over six seasons he had made only 59 appearances, scoring 23 goals. During the war he served in the Royal Marines and saw action in the Battle of Crete. He wrote frequently to the Hayes News from Cairo and later from India, giving news of other Hayes players and residents. After the war, he resumed playing for Enfield, while continuing to train at Hayes. He scored an own goal in Hayes’ 6-0 demolition of Enfield in March 1946, and rejoined Hayes finally in November, but did not make any further first-team appearances.

PW (Phil) Poole was a left-sided player, mainly at half-back, who made his debut in 1939-40 at the age of 20. He was a regular member of the side which won the Great Western Combination and played in the only match of the 1940-1 season, before joining the Royal Navy as a stores steward. He married a daughter of the well-known Hayes personality Jack Hayden and moved from Barra Hall Road to Glebe Road. He played the first post-war season for Hayes and then joined Uxbridge, and gave them long service, including playing against Hayes in the semi-final of the Middlesex Senior Cup in March 1950. In his time at Hayes he made a total of 40 appearances and scored two goals. One of his goals was the winner in the challenge match against the Great Western Combination select team.

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