When Channon and Hilaire made it a happy new year for Pompey

This year, it’s a day when few leagues have fixtures, most preferring to stick to a schedule on Saturday, January 2 instead.

I’ve loved January 1 games down the years: occasions that make you get out in the fresh air (often early) and shake off the cobwebs of the previous night and the previous week.

My favourite Pompey game on New Year’s Day would have to be the 1986 trip to Plough Lane.

In that era, we had some absolute nightmares at that ground but midway through the 85-86 season we were going well in division two and we began the new year by beating the Dons 3-1, with two goals by Mick Channon and one from Vince Hilaire.

The huge Blues following at one end of the ground thought Alan Ball’s team were well on course for promotion. As it turned out, they were wrong.

As for the worst New Year’s Day memories, I have two that warrant a mention.

January 1, 1985, is one of those days that Pompey fans still talk about, in somewhat morbid terms, 35 years later.

It was the day Pompey led Fulham 4-0 at Fratton Park at half-time – and ended up drawing 4-4... after a collapse many felt cost the Blues promotion that day.

Mike Neasom observed in The News the next day that Alan Ball, after the game, had the look of a man whose house had been burgled.

Nine seasons later, the thoughtful folk who operate the league fixture computer handed us a New Year’s Day trip to Barnsley, which required sobriety the night before and a very early start.

I can tell you little about the trip, nor about the match, other than the final score: 2-0 to Barnsley.

Any other offers? Share your best and worst Jan 1s... tweet @stevebone1 or email [email protected]