Long Eaton Rangers F.C.

Long Eaton Rangers Football Club was a football club based in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, England, which, for a brief period in the 1880s, had a legitimate claim to being one of the best teams in the country. They were founding members of the second ever league, The Combination, in 1888, and when that folded, the Football Alliance in 1889. History The club was founded in 1881, playing in fields that were opposite what would, in 1884, become the Long Eaton Recreation Ground. The first reported game for the club was a goalless draw at Derby Midland in November 1881. The club was unbeaten at home for its first two seasons. The first impact the club made on a wider stage was when beating Aston Villa reserve side 5-1, away from home, in a friendly in late 1882. The strong 1882-83 season for the club - it won 23 of 26 matches, only losing one, narrowly, to the very strong Nottingham Forest - encouraged the Eatonians to enter the Birmingham Senior Cup, which for clubs in the region ranked second only to the FA Cup in importance. The club first entered the competition in 1883-84, losing in the second round to Birmingham Excelsior, and in their next appearance, in 1885-86, at the same stage in a replay to Mitchells St George's.