I’ll start with a match that may be totally fictional but is embedded in my memory. 1968/69 Watford needed a point to win the championship. They had 2 quality strikers Barry Endean and another. Loads of Watford coaches in the car park. Pat Howard had been injured and was on the bench so Eric lined up with somebody else (Barry Swallow?). We were 2 goals down at half time. Second half Pat Howard came on and Eric went up top. In my memory he got a hat trick and we won 3-2. That’s what a legend looks like.
My dad was at that game and the way he told it was that Winnie had picked up a knock and played up front so he could have a rest. And yes he scored a hat-trick to win the game 3-2.
I was in ponty end just behind the goal what a great game for us. I wasalso at rhyl in the cup winnie missed a sitter in second half and walk to us fans and just winked
great player great coach and would always have a word and a laugh with the fans, just hope we can do it tomorrow for the big man, he would be dancing if his Barnsley got to wembley again, R.I.P. Eric thanks for the memories
The Watford game was mid week under the lights and it was pissing it down. All three goals were headers at the Ponty end. One of a few games that are etched in my mind.
Best memories: FA Cup v Everton January 1963 (my first Oakwell match) when Eric played Alex Young (the Golden Vision) out of the game at the tender age of nineteen. Roll forwards one year to January 1964 and the Manchester United FA Cup tie. Chatting to a Man U fan before the game, he said, 'Who's your centre half? He'd better be good to keep Bobby Charlton quiet.' I replied, he's called Winstanley and he's so good that I could count the number of mistakes I've seen him make on the fingers of one hand. I hope that he signs for you, because, if he does, he will be England's centre half for years.' Big Eric was as good as his reputation and Charlton was subdued for almost all the game with the exception of one shot against the crossbar. I remember Eric being connected with moves away to Norwich City and, possibly, Sheffield United, but they never materialised. He rightly became, in my opinion, the best Barnsley player never to depart for higher things (I don't count Chesterfield as higher). I share the memories of both game against Watford, home and away, both of which I saw and both of which were Eric at his best. In the away game in November, Eric played the whole game as a striker and didn't look out of place, scoring our first goal with excellent close control and shot inside the wide six-yard area. That was a game in which we went behind to the eventual champions within twenty seconds of the kick off and still won 2-1. The April 1969 games defined Eric absolutely as a legendary and great player. Watford, as someone has already said, needed just one point to be champions and even had their champions team photo taken before the match. We threw the kitchen sink at them for the first twenty minutes, Robson turning away thinking he had scored in the first five and then Bettany rattling shots in against Mike Walker in goal. Watford, with their wily coach, Ken Furphy, were very well drilled and scored twice in quick succession with set pieces, at least one a superb training ground routine through Barry Endean and the second was one of the defenders, Tom Walley, if I recall right. So, two-nil down against the champions designate - what chance. The clue happened just before half time when we got a corner on the right and Eric went up for it and scored with a near-post header. There was the clue that Watford's central defenders, Walley and Lees, were both quite small, so Pat Howard came on at half time to partner Eric Brookes in central defence and Eric Winstanley went up front. His second goal was just brilliant and showed his all-round skill. We broke quickly down the right on the counter-attack and a diagonal ball found Eric running diagonally from left to right, controlled the ball with his left foot and then bent the ball superbly round Mike Walker and inside his far post - classic technically brilliant finish. The icing on the cake came with about five minutes left when Hamstead centred from our left and Eric rose above Walley and Lees, as well as Walker in goal, to loop the winning header and his hat trick into the net. One of the best games I saw at Oakwell, given the context and Eric's all-round skill won it for us. What a true legend. Great memories and thirteen goals from centre-half that season. What a player. Thanks, Eric, for all those memories. Condolences to the sad, but proud, family.
Thanks for that. I just relived the whole game. I was at the Everton game and I’m still waiting to beat them. Some games are special.
