Cup Replay At The Hawthorns

Continuing the BN look back at Hereford United's 71/72 FA Cup run, today's article by Ron Parrott originally appeared on www.hu-fc.co.uk.

Hereford United vs Northampton Town (at West Bromwich Albion FC) - 20th December 1971 - FA Cup Second Round Second Replay.

As was the norm in those days, United were in the middle of one of their famous FA Cup runs. It all started modestly enough with a 3-0 home win over Cheltenham Town in the 4th qualifying round and a 0-0 draw at Kings Lynn in the first round proper. Then with the prospect of knocking out Northampton Town for the second consecutive year, cup-fever started to grip the county. Kings Lynn were seen off with a tense 1-0 victory in front of a crowd of 7,758. An even better 9,519 saw the Cobblers survive intense United pressure to gain a lucky 0-0 draw. There are over 2,000 United fans at the County Ground for the replay, with the mouth-watering prospect of an away tie at Newcastle awaiting the victors.

United are again unlucky not to win and have to settle for a 2-2 draw after extra time. The atmosphere is reaching fever pitch as United set off to the Hawthorns for the second replay and the trip from Hereford over to Worcester and up the M5 was totally unbelievable. It seemed that every car on the road was decked out in black and white and the M5 was like a scene from the Merton Meadow car park on a matchday at Hereford.

The convoy was in festive mood and eager to renew the battle. Northampton stunned 5,500 of the 8,331 crowd by taking a fourth-minute lead through much travelled centre-forward Frank Large and it took United a good 20 minutes to settle. The fans that night were unbelievable!! They lifted the team in a way that they've never been lifted before and once the volume of noise reached a fantastic crescendo, it never once relented. The team responded magnificently and pulverised the Cobblers defence relentlessly but it looked as if it was going to be one of those nights when the ball just wouldn't go into the net. The minutes ticked away and the FA Cup dream seemed to be going with them, until three minutes into injury time, left-back Ken Mallender let rip with a low, left-foot drive that slammed into the back of Northampton's net.

I've never seen such scenes of ecstacy in my life and the roar around the ground was simply incredible, it seemed as if the whole of Hereford was there! The rest as they say, is history. Dudley Tyler slid in a deserved winner five minutes into the second period of extra-time and United were on their way to Newcastle and the celebrations were just about to start.

The memories of that night still bring a tear of emotion to my eye and will live in my memory for ever. Interestingly, turning out at number 10 for the Cobblers in all of the three ties was none other than future Edgar Street legend, Dixie McNeil and the quote of the night came from Newcastle manager Joe Harvey, who claimed "We will not be taking anything for granted!"

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