88 Peter Conning

Peter is the guy in the light strip

Position : Midfield (also played as a striker)

Played : 1986-7

Appearances : 39

Goals : 1

At the start of the season , pressured by Tommy Cannon , Vic Halom announced that due to the financial pressures we would have to try and get by with cheaper players. One of the "fruits" of that policy was Peter who had been playing for Altrincham while studying at Liverpool University.

It was immediately apparent that Peter was out of his depth in the Fourth Division. He was a one-paced ballwatcher. I remember one fan at Stockport (where we drew 1-1 in what must have been the most inept game of football ever played in the Football League) asking him if he had arthritis. To make matters worse Halom kept talking him up as if we were idiots. His attempts to play upfront after Young and Wakenshaw had managed to get themselves sent off in the same game were laughable. Under Eddie Gray's coaching Peter's performances did improve to an extent but his release at the end of the season was inevitable.

He went back to the Conference with Weymouth and flourished to the extent that Yeovil paid £13,000 for him in 1989. He was a regular there for five years and played for the England semi-professional team. He later moved on to Tiverton and was still playing in 2003 as player-manager of Bridport. Last heard of working as Yeovil Colleges Football Academy manager.