One hundred years ago today Watford forward Eddie Mummery set a piece of club history which has not yet been matched.
On January 5, 1924, Mummery scored five goals in a Division Three South clash against Newport County – setting a club record for most goals in a single game at Vicarage Road which no player has managed to equal.
Tommy Barnett, Taffy Davies, Maurice Cook, Barry Dyson, Ross Jenkins, Luther Blissett and Odion Ighalo have all struck four times in a match at The Vic but Mummery’s five-star display sees him stand alone.
His heroics helped Watford to an 8-2 victory over their visitors, in only the club’s second season at the ground.
A report in the Watford Observer said Mummery ‘seemed able to do what he liked with the Newport backs’, while praising his ‘most brilliant display’.
The result stood out dramatically, both in terms of the club’s season to that point and Mummery’s own career.
Watford had only won three out of their 23 games heading into 1924, scoring just four times in the last 10.
Everything suddenly clicked against the Welsh side, with Mummery notching a hat-trick by half-time. However, form then dropped off again and Watford scored just three more goals in the next six matches.
Mummery, too, was never able to match his goalscoring feat and ended his Watford career with 23 strikes from 126 games.
His other 18 goals, apart from the five against Newport, were spread out across six seasons.
He dropped out of league football in 1926 and returned home to Norfolk, where he ran a pub and became involved with local teams.
Tragically, Mummery died of influenza aged just 39, but he will always have a place in Vicarage Road folklore.
