1884/85 1884-85 again saw Saints embark on a tour
of Lancashire, with disasters on and off the pitch!The team left from Paisley Gilmour Street Station on Hogmanay 1884 for
Lancashire. On the journey, to pass the time, goalkeeper Drinnan and forward Brown led the team in
a sing song. This was dramatically halted when it was noted that the adjoining carriage was on fire! Once the fire was extinguished,
they continued on their journey. On arriving at their destination Geordie Watt discovered that his entire kit
had gone missing and he was forced to borrow some from a Bolton Wanderers official.In the first match Saints gained
a creditable 2-2 draw with Bolton which gave skipper Johnny Paterson the confidence to predict an easy
victory over Haliwell in the second match. However during the warm-up for the match Paterson fell in
a rut injuring his foot. Having only eleven players in the squad he was forced to play and could
do nothing to prevent a 3-2 defeat.For the final tour match, Saints ‘borrowed’ a player from Bolton. Paterson was forced to watch from the stand and was so disgusted by what he saw that when Accrington Stanley went into a 5-0
lead, he locked himself in the dressing room and refused to leave, thus missing having to watch Accrington
increase their lead to seven without reply!A dejected squad arrived back in Paisley
a few days later, to find Geordie Watt’s kit waiting for them at Gilmour Street station where
he had left it!!
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