Salford lad Liam joined County at the very end of 2005. He was spotted by then-manager Chris Turner playing for Woodley Sports, and was signed on a short-term deal for £2,000. Unfortunately, after a 6-0 Boxing Day defeat at Macclesfield Town that left County well adrift at the bottom of the Football League, Turner resigned before Dickinson had even played a game.
In came Jim Gannon as manager, and in both men's debut game against Cheltenham, Dickinson scored to help secure a 2-2 draw. His next goal came in the next home match, this time against Rushden, when County were 2-1 down well into injury time. In fact, it was only in the fifth minute of time added on that Liam snatched a dramatic equaliser.
Three weeks later, in a Cheshire derby at Chester, Dickinson put County ahead with 15 minutes to go only for the home side to equalise through Ryan Lowe on 81 minutes. But, with seconds of normal time left, Dickinson snatched the vital victory with a late winner. His match had earlier taken a bizarre twist after he was bitten on the shoulder by opposition centre-half Sean Hessey.
The important, dramatic goals continued, next coming in another local derby as County visited Bury mid-week. It was five minutes from time when Liam raced clear on a boggy pitch and placed the ball past Kasper Schmeichel in goal for three more points. Later came another injury time equaliser, this time at Cheltenham, when a 88th minute penalty looked to have snatched the points for the home side as they went 3-2 up, only for Dickinson to draw level in the 94th minute.
His goals played their part in salvaging a doomed season, seeing County survive in the Football League in 05/06 by the skins of their teeth.
The following season, Jim Gannon's attempts to change Dickinson's playing style failed to pay off and he struggled for goals during the first half of 06/07. It was only from Boxing Day onwards that they began to return, and the Dickinson of the previous season started to revert to type away to Wrexham. The match was headed for a 0-0 draw, but a high ball in the last seconds was saw a dinking header by Dickinson to steal the victory.
The 07/08 season would prove to be his best yet. Starting off vying with three other strikers - Anthony Elding, Adam Proudlock and Matty McNeil - for the two starting places would always be a bit of a struggle, but he started in fine fashion by scoring the winner in the opening day 1-0 win over Dagenham. Another followed a week later in a 1-1 draw at Chesterfield, but a he picked up an injury that kept him out for several weeks.
His habit of winning local derbies returned during the visit to Rochdale during the November of the season, when he scored both in a 2-1 victory. December saw the start of his most prolific spell of his career, scoring in three consecutive games (1-3 v Lincoln, 6-0 v Wycombe, 2-0 v Macclesfield).
The goals kept coming, and by the end of the season his 19 goals had seen County qualify for the League Two Playoffs.
The first leg had finished a 1-1 draw, with Liam one of many County players coming away battered & bruised after facing a worryingly physical Wycombe side. But despite this, it only took Dickinson seven minutes to put County ahead on aggregate in the second leg at Edgeley Park. A tense afternoon followed, but no more goals were forthcoming and his strike had sent County on their way to Wembley for the final.
Local rivals Rochdale were the opponents on the day, and they would surely have been worried after Liam Dickinson had scored all four of County's goals against them during the normal season.
And so it was, in the 67th minute with the Hatters already 2-1 up, that some fine interplay with Anthony Pilkington saw Dickinson race in from the wing to score from the edge of the area. 'Dale pulled one back shortly after, but 3-2 it stayed and Dickinson's goals had proven vital in County's promotion.
Within a few weeks, and after a number of bids from Championship clubs, County & Derby agreed on a deal worth more than £750,000 that saw Dickinson join the Pride Park club. His final tally was 33 goals in 94(37) games for the Hatters, securing many vital results & creating many memorable moments along the way.
