Ollie Kearns

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ollie Kearns (born 12 June 1956 in Banbury) is a former English footballer who played for several Football League clubs during the 1970s and 1980s. He was also the first player to score a goal for Rushden & Diamonds on 22 August 1992 against Bilston Town.

He began his career at local club Banbury United before signing for Third Division club Reading in 1977 at the age of 20. The Royals were relegated to the Fourth Division in his first season, but bounced back two seasons later with Ollie chipping in with 11 league goals. However he was only to spend one year at the Manor Ground before his transfer to Walsall, also of the Third Division, in January 1982. Again he was to spend only one year at Fellows Park before dropping down a division to play for Hereford United.

He spent four years at Edgar Street and was top goalscorer two seasons running, in 1985-86 and 1986-87. He then played for Wrexham before dropping down into non-league football. There, he went down in the history books for scoring Rushden and Diamonds first ever goal, in front of little over 350 fans at Nene Park.