Tomorrow Derby travel to Holker Street, Barrow-in-Furness, to play Barrow AFC in the second round of the Carabao Cup. It is the first time the Rams will have played in Barrow for 67 years, a 2-2 draw in a Division Three North fixture. That season saw Derby gain promotion to Division 2 as champions scoring 111 goals on the way.

More recently, Derby played Barrow in early September 2020 at Pride Park in the Carabao Cup first round. Although the first lockdown had ended, games were still being played behind closed doors due to COVID-19 restrictions so no fans witnessed the 0-0 draw which saw Phillip Cocu’s side go through to the second round 3-2 on penalties.

Back to Saturday 8 September 1956. Derby went into the game at Barrow off the back of a 2-0 win at Wrexham on the Wednesday. The Rams started well and were 2-0 ahead by half-time thanks to goals from Alf Ackerman, scoring his 100^th league goal, and Ray Straw. The Guardian Journal described Harry Storer’s team’s first-half performance as appearing to be ‘coasting serenely to victory’ and giving Barrow a ‘lesson in cool, progressive soccer.’ Ray Straw was in ‘irrepressible form’; Paddy Ryan and Ackerman ‘had the defence in a panic’; and ‘Mays produced flashes of brilliance that Barrow could not match’.

But the second-half was a different story. After 53 minutes, Gordon forced Webster in the Derby goal to lose possession before putting the ball over the line. Shortly afterwards, Webster was picking the ball out of the net again after Roberts had headed in from a Billy Coole cross. Despite Derby’s early dominance, Coole nearly scored the winner at the end of the game but could only half-hit an easy chance which Webster could get down to.

The 12 page programme issued for the game features a blue cover with the coat-of-arms of Barrow-in-Furness in the top corner. An advert for Chas. Kendall (a turf accountant, or bookmaker) of Cavendish Street takes the most prominent position in the centre with no mention of the date or opposition on the cover. Around half of the programme contains adverts for local businesses, such as John G. Inman’s Newland Garage for mechanical and electrical repairs (telephone Ulverston 3002, hours 8am – 9pm each day) and the Farmer’s Arms free house in Newton – ‘the brightest and most popular Country Bar in Furness’. Very different times indeed!