Alex Comben, an inside-forward, who matured into a wing-half, came from Wycombe Wanderers in 1951. He spent only one season at Church Road, often in the reserves, when competition for a place came from Jack Rawlings, Johnny Bartholomew and Dickie Winch, making 29 appearances and scoring seven goals. He was selected as a travelling reserve for Middlesex v Hampshire in the Southern Counties semi-final at Andover in April 1952. He went to Wealdstone in 1952, and stayed there until 1959-60, although he was seen at Church Road in 1953 when Ron Gadsden returned from Lower Mead, and the local newspapers surmised that he would be returning as well. He went to Nigeria with the Forestry Commission in 1961. At this time he was described as ‘a cheerful player, who never complained about being dropped to the reserves and often made way for younger players’.

Dean Coppard was an enthusiastic centre-half, who never really became a fixture in the back line at a time when the defence always seemed to be under pressure in the Conference. Over the period 1998-2002 he made 59+30 appearances, scoring two goals. He went on loan to Aylesbury in  March 2002, and joined Enfield in July 2002, before moving on to Maidenhead in January 2003. He was last seen at Church Road playing for a very poor Aylesbury side in September 2003.

Known more for his career in management than as a player, Steve Cordery started with Hayes in 1981-2, making 5+7 appearances in midfield. His playing career then took him to Hillingdon, Feltham, Edgware, Uxbridge, Egham, Southall, Maidenhead, Hampton, Windsor & Eton, Chesham and Yeading (1989-93), where he played in the FA Vase final at Wembley and replay at Leeds in 1990. Later he managed Yeading, Hampton and Aylesbury with a modicum of success. He joined his local club, Staines Town, in May 2003.

While only making 0+2 appearances, striker Adam Cornell warrants text for his exploits in the reserve side during 2006/07 where he struck 35 goals in his first season out of the FEDO youth team. A hard working striker who was not only voted reserve team player of the year but also received a public apology from the first team manager Kevin Hill for not giving him the chance at first team level that season.

Jason Court was a tough-tackling defender or midfielder, who joined Hayes from Boreham Wood in 1987 and played until the 1992-3 season. Born in January 1966, he was a carpenter by trade. He made 165+15 appearances and scored 14 goals. Previously he had played for St Albans City and Chalfont St Peter, and later played for Harrow (summer 1993, following Harry Manoe), Leverstock Green and Hemel Hempstead.

Hayes has usually been blessed with competent goalkeepers, and Alan Cox was no exception. Born at Graz in Austria, he started with Carshalton and played for the Surrey club for 2 seasons, until he was spotted by Millwall. He remained a further two seasons at the Den before joining Hayes in March 1975 at the age of 22. His career was punctuated by injury and he played in three separate spells: from 1975 to September 1978, when he was forced to retire; from August 1981 to September 1983; and in 1986-7, when he made a come-back after two seasons out. Over this period he made 163+5 appearances. After his first retirement he was granted a testimonial match against an Entertainers XI in September 1979. Like several other Hayes players, he was also a keen cricketer, playing as wicketkeeper for his Old Boys team as well as putting on the goalkeepers gloves for the Staines Town vets XI.

The second player of the name, Andy Cox, also suffered more than his fair share of injuries but this was because he was an inspirational leader who would not stint his body in a crisis. Born in May 1969 at Hemel Hempstead, his first clubs were all from his native county: Berkhamsted Town, Tring Town, Chipperfield and St Albans, from whom he joined Hayes for £6,000 in 1991. He scored on his debut against Grays – in later years he obviously developed a liking for these opponents, culminating in a hat-trick from centre-half during the promotion season of 1995-6, only the second Hayes player ever known to have done so. He suffered many knee injuries during his stay at Hayes, but always came back. He remained at Church Road until 1998, captaining the side in his last season, before moving to Hendon to see out his playing career. During his seven seasons at Church Road, he made 208+2 appearances and scored 30 goals. These figures would have been considerably higher when you realise that he played only 15 games in 1992-3 and missed the following season completely.

Next, we come to John Cozens, who holds the Hayes record for scoring the highest percentage of total goals in a league season: in 1967-8 he scored 28 out of 57 goals, a percentage of 49.1%. What is more, in the previous season, he scored 23 out of 51 goals (45.1%), the second-highest percentage ever, ahead of third-placed Joe Friday’s 44.4% in 1938-9. In 115 games for Hayes, he scored a staggering 80 goals, including 45 in his last season. John lived at Hammersmith and joined from Tonbridge in December 1965. Right from the start he attracted league scouts and managers; Roy Bentley from Reading came to watch him in his first home game. While at Hayes he gained all representative honours except an international cap. He played for Middlesex, the Athenian League and FA Amateur XI. He signed professional forms for Hillingdon Borough in June 1968, and later joined Notts County.

Finally, Graham Cracknell merits an entry in this A to Z for the reason that he was the first player to sign professional forms with Hayes in 1974, when amateurism was abolished. A 6’ 3” tall goalkeeper, he hailed from Hemel Hempstead, and signed for Hayes while a student at Loughborough College, where he played for the British Colleges team. At this time, he lived in Leicester and travelled down for every match. On graduation, he became a PE teacher at Hemel Hempstead Comprehensive School. He played a total of 30 matches for Hayes, and later played for Harrow Borough.