Читать книгу Football Extreme - Rob Crossan - Страница 8
ОглавлениеHow Blyth Spartans had the most extreme Cup run of any non-league side in modern times
They tell you that the ‘magic of the FA Cup’ occurs in at least one match every year. The truth is, of course, that barring the odd shock result, the world’s oldest cup competition is more or less always won in the end by the top teams. An incredible 35 years have passed since a team from outside the First Division/Premier League has won the thing.
DID YOU KNOW?
Manchester United hold the record for the most FA Cup wins. They have lifted the trophy 11 times – in 1909, 1948, 1963, 1977, 1983, 1985, 1990, 1994, 1996, 1999 and 2004.
However, a club in the Northern League, buried deep in the north east of England and playing in incongruous green-and-white stripes came closer than anyone has come in modern times to actually taking the trophy away from the big boys, thanks to their incredible run in the FA Cup of 1977/78.
All the non-league clichés were in place. A ramshackle stadium, noisy local support and a manager in Jackie Marks who claimed to have invented a special drink called ‘speed oil’ which the players were instructed to imbibe before games. There was clearly something in the water. Blyth Spartans had already disposed of four local sides in the early stages of the competition before beating Burscough in the first round proper and claiming their first league scalp, Chesterfield, in the second round.
Croft Park was the home to the easiest of third round draws, against Enfield. The brilliantly-named Alan Shoulder scored the only goal of the game to see Blyth through to their first really big challenge – a trip to Stoke City.
At that time the Potteries side had a young Garth Crooks and Howard Kendall in their ranks and had only recently been relegated from the top flight. Blyth took the lead, but two quick Stoke goals after half-time appeared to spell the end for the non-league outfit. They’d already played an incredible eight matches to get this far – surely their players couldn’t possibly have the strength and stamina to turn the game around?
Then, the magic appeared. A free kick followed by a tap-in by Steve Carney seemed to be enough to earn a shock replay, but Blyth weren’t satisfied with that. In the best tradition of the cup, a last-minute free kick caused a loose ball which was slotted in by Terry Johnson. Blyth had done it – and they were now on the cusp of a glorious local derby against their neighbours Newcastle.
Except of course, not for the first time, Newcastle blew it. Their chance to face non-league opposition in the fifth round disappeared in a 4-1 fourth round defeat to Wrexham. So it was to North Wales that Blyth headed for what would turn out to be one of the strangest games of all time.
A tremendous performance had given Blyth a 2-1 lead with only one minute of the match remaining. The minnows were only seconds away from a home tie with the mighty Arsenal in the FA Cup quarter-finals. And they were only three games away from winning the trophy – but then Wrexham were awarded a corner.
Having successfully booted the ball out of the penalty area, the Blyth players were incensed when the referee ordered the corner to be re-taken thanks to the fact that the corner flag had collapsed. Once more the kick was taken. Once more the ball was cleared by the Blyth defence. Once more the corner flag fell over.
The third time Wrexham swung the ball into the box, Dixie McNeil forced the ball over the line to score a crushing equaliser. It was the cruellest of blows. Blyth were down – but they still weren’t out.
DID YOU KNOW?
Oxford University won the FA Cup in 1874.
It turned out that Newcastle did have a role to play in all this after all. With Croft Park far too small to accommodate the nationwide interest that was now swirling around Blyth’s non-league heroes, the venue for the replay was switched to St. James’ Park. It turned out to be the right choice, as a scarcely-believable crowd of over 42,000 supporters showed up to see Wrexham take a deserved early two-goal lead.
Terry Johnson pulled one back in the second half, but the equaliser just wouldn’t come for Blyth. Wrexham had squeaked through by the narrowest of margins to meet Arsenal in the quarter-finals. Some consolation for the Blyth supporters may have come in the fact that the north London giants defeated Wrexham 3-2 and went on to reach the final, where they lost 1-0 to Ipswich Town.
As for Blyth, the players received £350 worth of furniture from a local showroom and a couple of players in that glorious team signed for Newcastle, though there was little long-term progress.
Blyth now play two rungs below the football league while Terry Johnson, scorer of so many of the goals that propelled the club to the most extreme FA Cup run of any non-league side, still turns out for Blyth. Not on the football pitch, though, but in the local market where he runs the fruit and veg stall.
