8223 people were in attendance as Hereford were 3-2 winners in a game that they should have won more easily. Redrobe and Owen sent the Whites in 2-0 up at HT, Donny's Haselden got a second half "hattrick", pulling one back early in the half, scoring an own goal on 64 minutes before getting it back to 3-2 as injury time approached. Owen had scored for the third game on the spin.
On the Pitch: Colin Addison felt the need to explain the reasons behind the recent dismissal of his assistant manager John Barnwell, something that would spawn a demonstration by fans during the match against chairman Frank Miles. Barnwell was a year older than Addison and they had briefly played together at Sheffield United. Barnwell would also go onto have a decent career in football management, probably best remembered for a spell at Wolverhampton between 1978-82; a period when several top flight clubs were seduced by the must have accessories of the day, million pound players and ruinous sparkly new stands.
The previous Saturday had seen 6 of the 11 Division 4 matches finishing as draws, five of them score draws, described as Treble Chance Day during the "if I win the pools" era that feels like it never even happened courtesy of the National Lottery. Hereford did their bit grabbing a useful 1-1 draw at fellow strugglers Peterborough (a lob by Owen).
Off the Pitch: Sport was yet to perfect the art of rinsing fans for everything they have got. Bits and Pieces advertises tickets for an upcoming Wales v England international at Ninian Park together with revealing HUFC have been allocated 300 tickets for the League Cup Final that would take place on February 17th 1973. Both affordable and readily available. England would beat Wales 1-0 courtesy of a Colin Bell 35th minute goal in front of 36384 people. 100000 spectators saw Spurs also beat Norwich 1-0 via a late goal by substitute Ralph Coates to win their second League Cup in three years. Also biding his time in Bits and Pieces was Chris Kays, waiting for everyone to be out of the way at Cardiff and Wembley
The Supporter's Club Jottings acknowledge that Hereford's first 8 league games have attracted an excellent average of 7707 (helped by the previous home game's five figure gate against Mansfield). They do though add that not everyone was behaving themselves; something that would get a lot worse in football before it got better.
In the Opposition: Ian Branfoot played over 300 games for Doncaster Rovers and Lincoln City during the 1970s. Apart from this first league season it appears he skilfully managed to avoid playing against Hereford. He did though come back as a manager in 1984, taking over an already high flying Reading mid season securing promotion come May. He would go onto get Reading up again to the second tier as champions in 86, thanks in no small part to winning their first 13 matches. Before leaving in 1989 he gave Reading possibly their most successful "pre Madejski" period complete with bagging the prestigious Full Members Cup in 1988. He went onto manage both Southampton and Fulham, the second sounding better than it was as they were all over the place as a club. A period that Wiki describes as Fulham's Lowest Ebb.
Graham Moore and Peter Kitchen are worth a Google, both having decent careers, with the latter knowing where the goal was.
In the Charts: Mouldy Old Dough by Lieutenant Pigeon was still No.1. 4 weeks at the top that managed. Despite the soundtrack to Hereford's United's golden period being a more than capable match I am discovering that there was still plenty of dodgy music about.
In the News: 6th November - With inflation getting a bit lively the government introduces a freeze on pay, prices, dividends and rents.
On TV: 5th November - A still only 8 year old BBC2 launches the horror series Dead of Night with the first episode The Exorcism.
In the Maternity Ward: Actress Samantha Janus was born on 2nd November 1972.
Click on photos to enlarge.
