WHEN Abergavenny Amateurs centre-forward Neville Meadows had his front teeth knocked out by the elbow of a big, brash and burly defender in a 1958 clash against a raucous Race outfit, it was a day to remember for the toothless teenager.

Because instead of being stretchered off and rushed like a fallen prize racehorse to the nearest pampering tent, the match medic merely rammed Meadows’ teeth back into place, and told him to “get on with it.”

And “get on with it” he did. With a mouthful of blood and cotton wool, Meadows went onto score a memorable hat-trick in the space of ten minutes and win the day 0-3 for the Amateurs.

Meadows recalls, “After feeling the elbow smash into the side of my mouth, my mouth filled with blood and my two front teeth were hanging from their stumps.

“Because the coach decided the team needed me on the pitch, the teeth were sort of forced back into place and I carried on. Which is just as well because I went on to have a cracking game.”

To celebrate his hat-trick, Neville skipped a trip to the dentist and went out that evening to the dances at Abergavenny’s Town Hall.

When the plucky player awoke the next morning with a sore head and a vague recollection of the night before, his teeth seemed to be firmly wedged back into position. So the feisty footballer opted to let sleeping dogs, or in this case, canines, lie.

It wasn’t until two decades later he decided a trip to the dental surgery was in order and he finally got his teeth fixed the way they should have been before the man from Race had gone to town on his pearly whites.

Fast forward nearly 60 years from the Amateurs v Race clash and there was one problem. In latter years whenever Neville mentioned his heroics on that day to many of his friends and family they merely scoffed and dismissed it as the fantasy of a fool.

Neville told the Chronicle, “I”d tell them about the time I had my teeth knocked out in a match and went onto score a hat-trick and they’d just simply smirk and say, ‘Come on Nev! Who you kidding! Your surname is Meadows not Messi!’”

As a last resort Neville decided to visit Nevill Street and ask the Chronicle if we had a newspaper from 1959 in our archives covering the match in question.

Indeed we did. Neville’s flurry of goals was recored for posterity by our man on the scene in those days - Mr Don ‘hot-shot’ Chambers.

Under one of Don’s less imaginative headlines - ‘Great Hat Trick,’ Neville’s romp against Race was unearthed in all its slightly yellowing glory.

Armed with a photocopy of the aforesaid piece, Neville met up with his old pal Alan Partington at the recent England V South Africa cricket match and waved the article in his face as concrete proof of his endeavors all those moons ago.

Neville told the Chronicle, “Alan lives in Scotland and he’s never believed I scored a hat-trick in any game, let alone one where I had my teeth knocked out. So when I showed him the piece of paper he looked at it silently for a minute or so then turned to me and said, ‘Nice try Nev but you can get those things made up for a few quid on the internet these days.”

We’re here to tell you it’s the real deal Alan. This particular yarn is sown in the fabric of fact.