Returning from National Service in Hong Kong where he had turned out at centre-half for the Dorset Regiment, Brian Stevens continued playing as a defender for Andover Old Boys, while working as a paint sprayer. When his side were one short, he went in goal and was still keeping goal when Ted Bates heard about him and offered him amateur terms. When he duly kept a clean sheet at Highbury in his second game for the Reserves he was given a professional contract, and being a practical joker in the dressing room “Stevo” became a popular addition to the squad.

His debut (see below) came in the game when Ipswich won promotion to Division II in the season’s penultimate match and he added another 10 League games to his appearance total the following year when he ousted John Christie.

Brian also played in the last fixture of the season, a 3-0 victory over Newport and again won praise in the Echo.

“Stevens confirmed the good view taken off his play in last Wednesday’s match against Ipswich. For a tall lad – he is 6ft 4in – he gets down to the ball very well and in making several good saves he showed himself as cool and resourceful as the very good Newport goalkeeper, Weare. The crowd gets quite a laugh out of watching the discomfiture of visiting forwards trying to challenge Stevens. The sturdy young goalkeeper stands firm and the charging opposition nearly always finishes up on the floor”.

But when Tony Godfrey graduated from the Youth team to compete for Christie’s jersey Brian was squeezed out. He moved on loan to Fourth Division Southport, where he sustained a nasty knee ligament injury in a Lancashire Combination fixture and soon left League football without making a first team appearance for the Sandgrounders. He became a telephone engineer for the Post Office and a much admired goalkeeper for Salisbury – to the extent that the historians of the club’s first 60 seasons selected him in their “all-time Top 30”. Brian was also renowned locally, as a hard-hitting batsman in the cricket season and it was during a match at Hursley, playing for Andover Banks at the age of 46, he suddenly collapsed and died of a heart attack.