Keen Blade
Look Sharp !
Thanks for the wonderful memories of a classic season when I was 12 , watching with my Dad from Row O , Seat 82 in the BLS (now the BLUT) !
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I was at Birmingham that day, Tudor getting the only goal of the gameBert went to Hillsborough that season specifically to see Mcdonald.
He scored 3 in a 5-1 win.
Happy days.
Bert went to Hillsborough that season specifically to see Mcdonald.
He scored 3 in a 5-1 win.
Happy days.
Yep, and Bert also saw him score 2 in the Cup semi final at Hillsborough against Burnley.I seem to remember McDonald scoring at least 2 for Arsenal in the FA Cup at the Lane in 1978 when the did us 0-5. I also recall a 'Chico' Hamilton penalty in the same game landing in the BL upper tier!
Jennings saved Hamilton's penalty with his legsI seem to remember McDonald scoring at least 2 for Arsenal in the FA Cup at the Lane in 1978 when the did us 0-5. I also recall a 'Chico' Hamilton penalty in the same game landing in the BL upper tier!
5/12/1970
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There is no report of the match in the scrapbook that I bought a few years ago, I am afraid.
My dad and I had set off in in a good time his big black car (Austin, I believe as it did have trafficators like this) View attachment 99665
As soon as we arrived in the town centre, the car had broken down and with the help of by passers, the car was pushed to the nearest garage. The mechanics in the garage agreed to try and fix the car while my dad and I watched the match at Kenilworth Road. Luckily the weather was dry and mild that day and the football ground being a walking distance away from the garage. We were stood in the side terrace where the tv cameras were.
Early in the game John Ryan (a future Blade) sent over a cross from the right (you may note Colin Addison's unusual way of trying to stop the cross) for Malcolm MacDonald to head firmly towards our goal and at first I thought Hodgy had made a good save as it seemed that he had tipped the ball over the bar, I clapped immediately, but quickly stopped clapping, when I realised that the ball unfortunately had dipped into the net (as you can see in the below video from 3 mins 16 seconds)
During half time I was either in the toilets or getting refreshments from the bar when the second half had started, the first action I saw on the pitch when I got back to the terraces was seeing the ball looping over Hodgy and Dave Powell was on the goal line trying to head the ball out but it ended up in the net. I had missed the build up to the goal. About 20 to 25 years later visiting my Norwich mate in Gorleston, he showed me a recording of Luton's goals against us that appeared in Anglia tv's football programme a few weeks earlier. I hadnt realised that the build up to the 2nd goal was started by a MacDonald long throw that Hodgy had failed to punch clear only for Jimmy Ryan to head the ball over the the crowd of players in the box despite Powell's attempt to head the ball away (I remembered the last bit).
Near the end I think Bill Dearden won a penalty for us. TC then became our new penalty taker (note Roger Hoy trying to put TC off by using a shoulder nudge), not a well taken penalty but it was enough to beat keeper Tony Read (who had a spell as an outfield player scoring 12 times for Luton in the mid 1960s).
After the game walking back to the garage my dad discovered that the mechanics couldnt repair the car so my dad had to call for the AA despite not being a member of any breakdown service (he realised afterwards that it was important for him to be a member of the AA). Eventually the car got repaired and I remember looking at the speedometer when we were back on the M1 and being surprised that it was travelling at 90mph in some parts of the M1. Unfortunately MOTD was reaching the end by the time we arrived home.
Sadly it was Colin Addison's last competitive game for us as he had an injury which was to rule him out for nearly the rest of the season, he made a sub appearance in the County Cup 4-0 win at Millmoor after the end of the season. In October 1971 he joined Hereford United as the player-manager replacing the legendary John Charles. What a season Hereford had! Their famous FA Cup 3rd round replay win against 1st division Newcastle. Despite finishing 2nd in the Southern league at the end of the season, they were elected a place in the Football League replacing Barrow who had finished 3rd from bottom of 4th division. The reason why Barrow didnt get many votes from FL chairmen were highly likely to be for geographical reasons.
First half action (not the goal). My dad and I are somewhere in the terraces behind.
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Jennings saved Hamilton's penalty with his legs
1920'sMy ex would love reading about this game, she's a Luton fan!
We went to see Luton-Gillingham last year and have to say we struggled to find many pubs in the town centre and none near the ground. United were at Leeds that day (Basham 1-0) and we ended up the far side of the train station before we found a pub with the game on.
I guess Kenilworth Road won't have changed that much over the 50 years, seats where the away terrace was, one of the end's roofed and the executive box seats replacing the other side terrace. All hemmed in between a main A road and houses. If their move to a new stadium goes ahead then Kenilworth Road will be no more as a ground.
See 3 mins 26 secsDid it hit his legs but end up going skyward in to BLUT? I have got a memory of a Hamilton penalty ending up in the upper tier at some point, perhaps another game, long time ago, I might be totally mistaken!!
Millwall at home 76/77Did it hit his legs but end up going skyward in to BLUT? I have got a memory of a Hamilton penalty ending up in the upper tier at some point, perhaps another game, long time ago, I might be totally mistaken!!
Perfect day. A win, a clean sheet for Hodgy, Wednesday lost, and a game of Subbuteo. Plus a great tribute to a female Blade.12/12/1970
Blades 3 (Barnwell 2, Colquhoun) Charlton 0
Looking at the line ups in the previous night's Sheffield Star, how many Blades fans were excited about John Barnwell returning to the line up taking the place of the injured Colin Addison? How many Blades fans expected him to be our 2 goal hero? I was excited when we signed him 8 months earlier from Nottingham Forest just because my dad remembered him being a good player for Arsenal but he was dropped from the team after a poor performance in the 3-3 home draw against Bristol City on 5th Sept.
Thanks to Barnwell's 2 goals and one from Colquhoun we raced to a 3 goal lead before half time and all were scored at the Lane End. So far we scored 23 goals in home league matches for that season and 18 of them were scored at the Lane End!
1st goal by Barnwell, like the way Tudor kept himself low.
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Colquhoun nets the 2nd
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Barnwell again!
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Barnwell and Tudor celebrating
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Geoff Salmons' goal just before half time is disallowed (Dont know why)
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Early in the 2nd half, Eddie suffered a broken nose and is replaced by Gil Reece. Here is Colquhoun pictured after the match. Did Eddie suffer the injury after colliding with the goalpost at the Lane End?
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Gil Reece thought he increased our lead with a header at the Kop End but that was disallowed too (dont know why)
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From the programme
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I don’t know the answer, but candidates for that in the 60s would be selling Jones and Birchenall, not replacing Hodgy when he broke his thumb, the tensions between the football and cricket over the future... No doubt others can add to the list.What was the dispute between supporters and the club? I can't recall that.
You knew Gert?Perfect day. A win, a clean sheet for Hodgy, Wednesday lost, and a game of Subbuteo. Plus a great tribute to a female Blade.
See 3 mins 26 secs
No, but about half the blokes on here claim to have married her! I don’t remember ever coming across her, but she sounds to have been quite a character. I too would like to hear from anyone who knew her. Perhaps she is PastaMan’s grandmother?You knew Gert?
She talked a bit about the 1936 FA Cup final in the 50 seasons in the 1st division souvenir. Must have been a well known character for a long time.No, but about half the blokes on here claim to have married her! I don’t remember ever coming across her, but she sounds to have been quite a character. I too would like to hear from anyone who knew her. Perhaps she is PastaMan’s grandmother?
probably dick wragg lolI don’t know the answer, but candidates for that in the 60s would be selling Jones and Birchenall, not replacing Hodgy when he broke his thumb, the tensions between the football and cricket over the future... No doubt others can add to the list.
26/12/1970
Blades 2 (Nish og, Woodward) Leicester 1 (Farrington)
I can still picture of a lot of things that happened on that day but the strange thing is that I do not remember our two goals!
In the morning I was at Gosforth school field to watch a comic football match for charity between a team of fathers of Gosforth school pupils (dressed as Monks) and a team of fathers of Maud Maxfield pupils (all sorts of fancy dress). My dad was the "three legged professor" and he played terribly in the 1st half! I remember a ball going towards him but he missed it completely as he tried to kick it by using his "third leg" crutch and he fell down! Some of the spectators might have laughed at him but I was embarrassed by what he tried to do. At half time he ditched his crutch and dressed in his overalls that he used for working at William Lees and he looked a good player during the 2nd half. I thought the team of Monks had won the match comfortably but the ref declared the match as a draw. Nearly 7 years later I was looking at a 1959 SUFC squad photo (it was wrongly captioned as the 1961 promotion squad) from the John Harris testimonial programme (SUFC 1971 team v Brian Clough's Forest). I was going through each player from the 1959 squad photo and asked my dad what he thought of them. When we got to Tommy Hoyland , he said Tommy played in that Comic football match in Boxing Day 1970. I am not sure which team Tommy played for. I doubt he played for the Monks team as I cant think of his connection with Gosforth school and I think he might have been asked by Keith Kettleborough (whose daughter was at Maud Maxfield) to play for the Maud Maxfield team.
When we got to the match at the Lane, we had to stand in the BLLT instead of usually sitting in the BLUT. I think the reason for that was we had arrived at the ground too late to get seats in the BLUT. I remember being near a very vocal group of Leicester fans. Dave Powell was ruled out injured for the game and John Flynn was recalled to the line up, Flynn's last game was the season opener defeat at Orient.
As I said, I do not remember our goals in the match, fast forward 20 years later I was talking about that Leicester match to a Blade who I worked with at the AGD in Chesterfield. His memory of that goal was that he was stood in the Kop waiting for Woody to take the free kick at the Kop End, he got startled by a firework exploding behind him, turned round to his back to see who caused the explosion before turning his attention back onto the pitch, the first thing he saw on the pitch was that the ball already in the net and then he saw keeper Peter Shilton being stood motionless on the other side of the goal. Maybe Shilton got distracted by the firework explosion behind him making him too slow to react to Woody's free kick?
During the 2nd half I remember a small group of Wendy fans in front of me cheering at the Hull v Wendy score updates at the Pavilion and at one point Wendy were winning 4-1. They will have been shocked to find the final score when they got home as Hull scored 3 more goals in the last 7 minutes to make the score 4-4.
Late in the game I remember John Farrington pulling a goal back by hitting a low shot past Hodgy. At the final whistle Hodgy celebrated in relief and joy with his team mates as Leicester were threatening to equalise in the nervy final few minutes. A good win for us against the table toppers!
That evening I remember watching Derby's 4-4 draw against Man U (Wilf McGuinness's last game as Man U manager) on MOTD. As you can see in the below video of the match, there were snow on the pitch (there were also snow at Arsenal and at Leeds home games too) but funnily I do not remember seeing any snow at the Lane or at Gosforth schoolfield.
1st half action
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Nish own goal
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From the programme
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