DOMINIC NAYLOR

Born: 12 August 1970

Came from: Barnet   Went to: Gillingham

First game: 14 August 1993   Last game: 06 May 1995

Appearances: 100 (98/2)   Goals: 1

Signed from Barnet when the cash-strapped London club was forced to make its entire squad available on free transfers, Naylor was the specialist left-back manager Peter Shilton had been seeking in the summer of 1993. The 23-year-old slotted straight into a new-look defence featuring Mark Patterson, Andy Comyn and Keith Hill but, despite impressive pedigree, that back four proved to be the Achilles' heel as Shilton's side faltered in the playoffs.

Naylor himself was a pragmatic, old-fashioned fullback – much more comfortable chasing wingers than taking the ball forward himself. However, he did have the relative misfortune of playing behind mercurial winger Paul Dalton – who was as singularly devoted to attacking as Naylor was to defending – and thus faced much of the left-flank traffic on his own. Naylor's two seasons at Home Park could not have been more contrasting: the first an exhilarating journey to the playoffs; the second a wretched nosedive towards relegation. With the exit of Shilton and subsequent arrival of Neil Warnock in the summer of 1995, Naylor left Devon to sign for Gillingham – where he stayed for a single season before seeing out his career at Leyton Orient and a succession of non-league clubs.