A look back to 1996. Hereford had played Spurs at Edgar Street and a replay was set to take place on January 17th.
In advance of that game a Hereford player and a former player gave interviews.
BEFORE the trip to White Hart Lane Hereford United captain Dean Smith gave an interview to the Independent:
As the only player at Hereford who the club paid a transfer fee for - I
think I'm the record signing - it was inevitable that when I joined in
1994 I was ribbed a bit - but I wouldn't have it any other way. In the
dressing-room atmosphere you are just one of the team, and that's
exactly what I am.
Hereford are an ambitious club. When Graham Turner took over at the
start of the season, we were very optimistic. When we beat Barnet 4-1 in
the opening game, we were even more so. But we are too near the bottom
of the League because we have drawn some matches which should really
have been victories.
We felt like that about the Tottenham game. The atmosphere at Edgar
Street was superb and I honestly felt we were the better side. There was
a terrible mood of anticlimax after the game. We didn't quite know how
we should feel: happy, sad, or what?
Everybody outside Hereford expects us to get turned over at White Hart
Lane in the replay, but we matched them in the last game and so we have
definitely still got a chance, still got something to prove. People say
we haven't got anything to lose, but we have - if we lose, we are out of
the FA Cup.
The financial rewards of the replay are of massive importance for the
club - the bank manager is very happy. In fact, in missing the penalty
in the first game, I've actually made the club a lot of money!
We'll maybe surprise a few in the replay, but we have a good chance of
reaching Wembley anyway in the Autoglass Windscreens Shield. It would be
absolutely superb for the whole town if we could get there, but the
priority has to remain getting out of trouble in the League, and then to
push for promotion.
I believe the team is capable of promotion. And if our performance
against Tottenham hasn't given us confidence in ourselves, then I don't
know what will.
And Ricky George also gave his views - this from the Mirror:
Ricky George will be suffering from a severe case of divided loyalties
as he hits the road to White Hart Lane for Wednesday's FA Cup replay
against Hereford.
As a lifelong Spurs fan George is desperate to see Gerry Francis's men take another step along the road to Wembley.
But the man who wrote himself into Cup folklore with non-League
Hereford's extra-time winner against Newcastle back in 1972 just can't
help rooting for the Third Division underdogs.
"Being a romantic I'd like to think Hereford might shade it but,
realistically, I've got to go for Spurs," says George, a director of The
Bury Hill Group, a sports footwear and clothing business in Potters
Bar.
"They're such a strong, organised side that you can't see them slipping up at home. But you never can tell."
So whatever the result, George is on a winner. "I first stood on the
terraces at White Hart Lane in 1953 when I was seven and I've been a fan
ever since.
"My father and brother were also fanatical Spurs supporters and now my
children, Daniel, Adam and Rebecca, are all season ticketholders.
"I was even luckier. I joined the club as an apprentice straight from
school in 1961, the year they did the double. I used to clean the boots
of players like Blanchflower, Mackay, Greaves, White and Jones.
Legends!"
Just like Hereford's class of 72. And memories of their greatest day just won't go away either.
"We'd already drawn at Newcastle which was an incredible feat for a
non-League club," recalls George, 49. "And the replay was postponed so
many times we ended up playing it on the day scheduled for the fourth
round.
"I was sub and didn't get on until Newcastle took the lead eight minutes
from the end. I remember thinking: 'What am I supposed to do about it
so late in the game?'
"But I managed to win the ball to start the move for that incredible
equaliser by Ron Radford and then I nicked the winner in extra-time.
"The players have a regular reunion but I'm not conceited enough to
think many people around Hereford would recognise me these days."
Hereford were elected to the Football League that year but George stayed
in non-League football to concentrate on his business interests.
"I always thought I was good enough to make the grade full-time but a succession of managers begged to differ.
"Perhaps in the early days at Spurs I was too much of a fan. I forgot I was there to play football as well.
"After Spurs I had a few games at Watford, Bournemouth and Oxford before playing non-League for Barnet and Hereford.
"It wasn't until I went back to Barnet for a second spell that someone
sat me down and told me what I'd been doing wrong all those years."
George is now a hands-on President of Barnet Youth FC, a club with 12 teams and over 200 youngsters.
"Ideally we will become a nursery for Barnet and other small clubs.
"As the Premiership and top half of Division One get stronger and
stronger the gap between the haves and have-nots is growing. The little
clubs need all the help they can get get.
"I've always been a bit sentimental about my football and I'd hate to
see the Barnets and Herefords of this world go out of business. That's
not what the game is all about."
And manager Graham Turner was confident - "We know we let them off the
hook in the first game, but there is no reason why we can't win it," he
said.