Result: 0-2 Loss (HT 0-0) Howarth 57,59
Attendance: 6,424
Hereford United: Hughes, Radford, Bell, McLaughlin, Tucker, Tavener, Rudge, Tyler, Redrobe (Ritchie*), Brown, Jones.
*on debut, a £14k signing from Arsenal.
Opposition: Johnson, Walding, Jopling, Walker, Dean, Richardson, Bell, Brown, Howarth, Joslyn, Brodie.
League Position: 19th (one above the drop with 10 games to go).
On the Pitch: The defeat sees Hereford sitting perilously close to the drop with form of LLLWDLLWLL. Three games had been held at Edgar Street in a week (Wednesday, Saturday, Wednesday), two of which had to be illuminated by a generator - yet the attendances were still impressive. A modern day Hereford chairman would be preparing for the worst, maybe even trying to cushion the blow with a multi match deal, yet the crowds were a remarkable 6170, 7138, and 6424, just shy of 20,000 people in a week to see a struggling team.
Click on photos to enlarge.
Colin's Comments: Addison bemoaning the bad luck that accompanied a recent substitution makes you realise that some aspects of this era were prehistoric. The bad luck in question was Paul Lee going on for Dudley Tyler in the Southend game, only for Brian Evans to limp off moments later, leaving Hereford having to see out the match with 10 men. At the time, only one substitution was allowed - and that was still a relatively new phenomenon, with tactical substitutions even newer.
Third Division Round Up: Ted focuses on the recent trend of experimenting with Sunday football, correctly predicting that it won't catch on at Edgar Street. Now a distant memory, the old March transfer deadline day reveals that the division is also finding splashing the cash on players rather trendy. Ted rattles off over £300,000 worth of recent transfers - big money, perhaps £4.5M at today's prices. No wonder HUFC were flirting with relegation. The article is rounded off with a familiar name in the top scorer chart: future Hereford player Steve Davey.
In the Opposition: Glen Johnson would appear in an impressive 424 league games between the sticks for the Shots. Hereford-born right back Richard Walden would go onto be in that freak 1980 Newport team that was dripping with talent. Darlington-born Len Walker would also get in 400+ league games for Aldershot at "half back", before going on to manage them for the best part of a decade, sticking with the club until their demise in 1992 (Newport also having gone to the wall in 1989). Roger Joslyn would help Graham Taylor catapult Watford up the divisions during the late '70s. Malcolm Crosby would, as a caretaker manager, take Sunderland to the FA Cup final in 1991 for only the second time since the war, where they would lose to a still then-mighty Liverpool. Crosby would go on to have a fairly low key 25+ year career as a member of many clubs' backroom staff.
Jack Howarth became Aldershot's record goal scorer with 171 in the league, including two in as many minutes in this game. Dennis Brown scored on his league debut for Chelsea against Manchester United in 1963 before going on to play bags of games for Aldershot - something many of this squad did, including Ronnie Walton, and the winner of the squads best name Murray Brodie (I could tell you he was Scottish, but I think you would have probably got there yourself).
Supporters' Corner: Praise for Smart and Brown Lighting Ltd. for the second programme in a row for getting the show on. If any of you are related to their employees Stan Hetherington, Ralph Edinborough, and Bill Reynolds, they all get a shout-out.
Going by Car: An interesting midweek trip to Plymouth for anyone who went. The original Severn bridge had opened in 1966 (which is apparently a Grade 1 listed structure), so all good getting to the M5 (albeit with the Tintern road the then favoured route) - but it looks like the M5 terminated at Bridgewater back in 1975, so on to the A38 it was, which must have made summer holiday trips to Devon and Cornwall character-building?
Vital Statistics: Tommy Hughes, one of the few players from this era that people in their 50s can properly associate with, along with perhaps Steve Emery and Colin Addison (who would bring optimism to the 1990-91 season, a season that we must surely have finished in 17th place?).
In the News: By the time the Aldershot team had got home with their two points they would have been greeted with this news as described by Wikipedia.
In London, an attempt was made to kidnap Princess Anne, daughter of the Queen. Ian Ball, later found by a court to be insane, drove his Ford Escort into the path of an automobile bringing Anne and her husband Mark Phillips back to Buckingham Palace after a charity event. Ball began firing a pistol and shot Anne's bodyguard Jim Beaton; chauffeur Alex Callender; and tabloid reporter Brian McConnell and police constable Michael Hills. A passing pedestrian, former boxer Ron Russell, punched Ball and led Anne to safety. The story would later be dramatized in a 2006 Granada Television film, To Kidnap a Princess.
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: F1 presenter Ted Kravitz was born on 21st March 1974.
