80 years ago today ...worst ever FL defeat

80 years ago today....Rovers worst ever Football League defeat. Luton Town 12 Bristol Rovers 0. The epitome of Bristol Rovers’ inter-war struggle was, perhaps, the disastrous visit to Kenilworth Road,Luton on Easter Monday 13 April 1936. There was little hint of what was to come, for Rovers had drawn their other two Easter games, including one at home to Luton Town. Rovers were unchanged, but Luton selected a reserve wing-half, Joe Payne, as an emergency striker. The experiment paid off, as Payne completed a first-half hat-trick, then added seven more in atrocious weather after half-time. 12-0 remains, by a wide margin, the worst defeat in the history of Bristol Rovers. Luton Town’s achievement was the only occasion that a club scored twelve goals in any Third Division (South) fixture. Moreover, Joe Payne, who scored his final nine goals in forty-six minutes, eclipsed Tranmere Rovers’ Bunny Bell’s feat of nine goals in a match and his ten goals in this game stand as a Football League record to this day. Payne was to represent England as a centre-forward and enjoy a distinguished career with Chelsea. He opened the scoring with a low shot after twenty-three minutes and, after Fred Roberts had scored a second, added two tap-ins in the run-up to half-time. After the interval, the centre-forward could do no wrong and, by the eighty-sixth minute, had increased his impressive goal tally to three headers and seven shots. A minute from time, inside-right George Martin, who had initially been falsely credited with the sixth goal, added the twelfth. Despite the result Rovers shell shocked goalkeeper Jack Ellis played well and kept his place for the remaining four matches of that season which resulted in three wins including a morale boosting 6-1 victory over Exeter City.