Dennis Herod was an English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 former footballer

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

.

Playing career

A small but agile goalkeeper, Herod rose through the junior ranks of Stoke City

Stoke City F.C.

Stoke City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire that plays in the Premier League. Founded in 1863, it is the oldest club in the Premier League, and considered to be the second oldest professional football club in the world, after Notts...

 to sign professional forms in 1946. Over the next seven years he played 191 league games for the Potters and during a game against Aston Villa

Aston Villa F.C.

Aston Villa Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Witton, Birmingham. The club was founded in 1874 and have played at their current home ground, Villa Park, since 1897. Aston Villa were founder members of The Football League in 1888. They were also founder...

 in February 1952 scored a goal in extraordinary circumstances. Herod sustained an injury in the first half of the match, which later turned out to be a broken

Bone fracture

A bone fracture is a medical condition in which there is a break in the continuity of the bone...

 arm

Arm

In human anatomy, the arm is the part of the upper limb between the shoulder and the elbow joints. In other animals, the term arm can also be used for analogous structures, such as one of the paired forelimbs of a four-legged animal or the arms of cephalopods...

. With substitutions not available he let Sammy Smyth

Sammy Smyth

Samuel "Sammy" Smyth was a footballer who played for Liverpool from 1953 to 1954. Smyth was Liverpool's top scorer during the 1953–54 season, scoring 13 goals in all competitions. He helped Wolves win the FA Cup in 1949, scoring a goal in the final itself...

 take his place in goal whilst Herod went out to left-wing, on the 50th minute with a broken arm Herod scored City's third goal.

Herod died on the 16 December 2009 aged 87. He was the last member of the Stoke City squad which came close to winning the First Division title in 1947.

Career statistics

Club	Season	League		FA Cup		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Stoke City Stoke City F.C. Stoke City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire that plays in the Premier League. Founded in 1863, it is the oldest club in the Premier League, and considered to be the second oldest professional football club in the world, after Notts...	1945–46	0	0	8	0	8	0
	1946–47	14	0	1	0	15	0
	1947–48	41	0	2	0	43	0
	1948–49	41	0	4	0	45	0
	1949–50	20	0	1	0	21	0
	1950–51	35	0	3	0	38	0
	1951–52	29	1	4	0	33	1
	1952–53	11	0	1	0	12	0
	Total	191	1	24	0	215	1
Stockport County Stockport County F.C. Stockport County Football Club is an English football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester. The club formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, shortly afterwards merging with Heaton Norris F.C., and adopted the current name on 24 May 1890 on the creation of the County Borough of Stockport...	1953–54	33	0			33	0
	Total	33	0			33	0
Career Total		224	1	24	0	248	1