Aidan Davison will be going flat out to lay the ghost of his worst Football League nightmare when he steps between the goalposts for Colchester United at Hartlepool on Monday.

And the highly-experienced Northern Ireland international keeper would love to kick-off his Bank Holiday weekend with a clean sheet against newly-promoted Doncaster Rovers at Layer Road tomorrow.

But it was at Hartlepool's Victoria Park last September where shell-shocked Davison stood alone in the firing line as the goal-hungry northerners hammered his Grimsby Town team-mates 8-1.

"That was embarrassing. I was left terribly exposed as we went gung-ho," said the former Newcastle trainee, who launched his League career after a short spell with non-league Billingham Synthonia.

He pointed out: "We were pretty naive on the day.

"Three goals down in no time at all, most clubs would have shut-up shop and played damage limitation for the rest of the game.

"Not us. We really went for it and in the end suffered a total collapse.

"Believe it or not, that wasn't my worst day though.

"When I was playing for Bradford we got thrashed 9-1 by Liverpool Reserves."

Published Friday August 27, 2004

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