Result: 3-0 Win (HT 2-0) Hinch 31, Brown 40, 62
Attendance: 6,186
Hereford United: Hughes, Radford, Bell, McLaughlin, Tucker, Jones, Rudge, Tyler (Hinch), Ritchie, Brown, Emery.
Southport: Taylor, Sibbald, Ryder, Noble, Wright, O'Neil, Lloyd, Ross, Fryatt, Provan, Coleman.
League Position: Hereford are 19th after 39 games (7 to go) - the defeat sends 22nd placed Southport down.
On the Pitch: Willie Brown, who is featured in the programme, grabs his 4th and 5th goals in seven games. A young Steve Emery gets praise in "the book" - a classy home debut culminates in him lobbing the defence to set Brown up for his third. The only downside is Tyler going off injured, ending his season (albeit with only 7 games to go).
Click on photos to enlarge.
Colin's Comments: Addison is pleased with a 1-0 midweek win at Plymouth courtesy of a 58th minute Willie Brown goal from a corner, scoring off a flick on from the head of Tucker (Att: 7,516).
Third Division Round Up: 19th place Hereford sounded safe (with a little 's') before this game against fellow strugglers Southport - these two points, combined with the visit of rock-bottom Rochdale the following Wednesday, mean Hereford should get the job done.
In the Opposition: I struggled with this squad during the corresponding fixture in the 72/73 season, apart from clocking that it was nigh-on compulsory to go and have a spell in US "soccer" (article put on BN 28/6/24). Of the new additions in the summer, Tommy O'Neil stood-out, having played over 50 top-flight games for Manchester United between 1969-73, which automatically put him in the same orbit as some of the great players. He arrived at Southport straight from Old Trafford, although he had been loaned out to Blackpool the previous season after falling out of favour following the arrival of new manager Tommy Doherty. Still only in his early 20s, it looks like a great bit of business by Southport - he would play almost 200 league games for them. Post-football, he would find his way back to Manchester United in the early noughties, which again would have surely put him in the same orbit as some serious (albeit young) talent. He sadly passed away in 2006 aged just 53.
Fan of the Week: Two pipes and someone sticking their tongue out. Not a bad haul.
Edgar Street Chatter: Mick McLaughlin has joined the HUFC 200 club (he played an impressive 65 times in 70-71), but giant-killing hero Brian Owen has left the club to go Weymouth. The programme suggests he scored a solid 50 goals at Hereford in 152 starts, coming off the bench a further 18 times.
News that tickets for an upcoming Wales v England game at Ninian Park can be easily grabbed via the club, roughly £45 to sit in the posh seats and £22.50 to stand in today's money.
Supporters' Corner: The programme rightly gets praise at the national awards before Phil Godsall does a pretty decent job of managing supporters' expectations and reminding them what division HUFC are in.
Vital Statistics: Based on his photo as a 24 year old, and with the more relaxed approach of the day, Willie Young could surely get served in a pub aged about 13?
Results and Fixtures: During the 72-73 season, there were some exceptional reserve team attendances - they still pull in half decent crowds in 73-74. What stands out, though, this season is that they have to wade through nine West Midlands League games in 26 days (although I think the fixtures in the programme have gone a bit haywire).
One other programme tradition was that this fixture was flagged as being on the same day as the FA Cup semi finals. With football still "proper", both games were 3pm Saturday kick offs - Liverpool and Leicester drawing 0-0 at Old Trafford (Att: 60,000), with Newcastle United beating Burnley 2-0 at Hillsborough (Att: 55,000).
Liverpool won their replay 3-1 at Villa Park (55,619). Liverpool would go onto beat Newcastle 3-0 in the final with their future hero Kevin Keegan grabbing two of the goals.
Interestingly, they used to have a 3rd/4th place FA Cup play-off back then, Burnley beating Leicester 1-0 at Filbert Street in front of a bumper 4,432. This game was only a thing between 1970 and 1974.
In the News: 31st March sees the launch of British Airways, which mops up BOAC, BEA, Cambrian Airways, and Northeast Airlines.
In the Singles Charts: Billy Don't be a Hero by Paper Lace is at No.1.
In the Album Charts: The Singles 1969-1973 by the Carpenters is at No.1.
In the Maternity Ward: Snooker player* Mark King was born on 28th March 1974. *although not technically a snooker a player until 2028 as he was banned last November due to a betting scandal.
He's One of Our Own: Matthew Gardiner was also born on 28th March 1974 in Birmingham. He played 18 times in defence for HUFC during the 2000-01 season, scoring once - two minutes into a lively 2-2 draw against then-rivals Yeovil in front of Edgar Street's biggest league gate of the season (3,393 - average for the season 1,942). That must have annoyed them, as they didn't come back and pinch him in exchange for settling a utility bill? Gardiner has gone on to have a better football career off the pitch than on, having first worked under fellow former Hereford player John Eustace at Kidderminster in 2016 - he has followed him to Blackburn, via QPR, and Birmingham City before they lost the plot. He is Blackburn's assistant head coach - they sit 7th in the Championship.
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