ST HELENS Town make a piece of local history this Saturday when champions Vauxhall Motors come to Hoghton Road.

For it will be the final game at Town's home for the past 54 years.

After reaching Christmas in second place, Town still hold hopes of a high finish and it would be a tremendous finale to an emotional occasion if they could claim the champions' scalp.

The match kicks off at 3pm.

Back in 1946 the pioneers who re-formed St Helens Town AFC held a dream of a football league club for St Helens as for years it was the largest provincial town in the country which did not have one.

That dream, though by now well off course, still exists and the impending move to the new Linkway stadium via Knowsley Road puts things back on track and given the backing of the community both on and off the pitch, the dream can be realised one day.

Naturally moving on always evokes memories and Hoghton Road has provided its share and the ground will always be synonymous with the name of the legendary Bert Trautmann who kept goal for Town for two halcyon years in 48-49.

It was in this period that Hoghton Road drew its record gate for a league game when 3,012 saw Town beat Burscough 2-1 when both were in pursuit of the Liverpool County Combination title.

That record was superseded in May 1950 when Manchester City came along with newly transferred Bert Trautmann in their ranks and 4000 officially witnessed the fund raising friendly against a St Helens select XI, although unofficial estimates claim the figure to be nearer 6000 as hundreds found alternative ways in. Sadly it was to be many years before the turnstiles started clicking again to any degree and that came in October 1985 when Morecambe came to town for an FA Cup fourth qualifying round replay with an away tie at York City the prize for the victors.

Despite a bus strike and a Tuesday afternoon kick off almost 1,200 saw the visitors ride their luck to scrape through.

Then came the pinnacle of Towns achievement in season 86-87 when the FA Vase was lifted at Wembley but there were many stirring occasions at Hoghton Road en route.

Perhaps the finest game ever seen at the venue was Town's first stride to Wembley when coming back from the dead at 0-3 to overcome Colne Dynamos 5-4 in a sensational finish and from that point Town sensed 'something in the air'. Crowds of 1,100 and 2,203 saw them take on Falmouth and Emley respectively en route to the twin towers where glory was achieved over neighbours Warrington Town.

Another four figure gate saw Everton's visit in October 1988 to open the new floodlights on a night of torrential rain and in subsequent years both Liverpool Reserves and Tranmere Rovers Reserves have drawn healthy crowds in the Liverpool Senior Cup. 2,800 v Manchester United (testimonial) October 1992.

The club would love to see all who have played their part in Hoghton Roads tapestry in attendance on Saturday against Carlsberg FA Vase semi-finalists Vauxhall.

Amos Hughes scored the first ever goal at Hoghton Road in Towns 1-0 win over Newton YMCA in 1946, who will earn the distinction of scoring the last?