1970-71 (55 years ago today) match reports and photos

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27/2/1971

Carlisle 1 (Owen) Blades 0

Again, my dad didnt trust his car for the long trip to Carlisle so we went to watch Wendy beat Bristol City 2-0 (Mick Prendergast scored both goals). We were stood in the Leppings Lane end and my dad was chatting with a friendly family from Bristol, the two daughters were both good looking and had a lovely smile but they were about 6 to 8 years older than me!

During half time I was looking towards the Kop end to see the half time scores on the electronic scoreboard and up came "Carlisle United 1 Sheffield United 0". I was thinking there is time for us to equalise and maybe score the winner . When the final whistle sounded at S6, a Wendy fan (think he might be from Dronfield) came up to have a chat with my dad as they knew each other, I kept my eye on the electronic scoreboard but up came "Carlisle United 1 Sheffield United 0". My heart sank and then I noticed that the Wendy fan (who was talking to my dad) pointing at me and going "Ha ha ha". What a twat!

During the season we have had three legendary ex-players reporting on our matches. Albert Stubbins, Sam Bartram and now Len Shackleton!
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From the Green Un middle pages that evening.

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27/2/1971

Carlisle 1 (Owen) Blades 0

Again, my dad didnt trust his car for the long trip to Carlisle so we went to watch Wendy beat Bristol City 2-0 (Mick Prendergast scored both goals). We were stood in the Leppings Lane end and my dad was chatting with a friendly family from Bristol, the two daughters were both good looking and had a lovely smile but they were about 6 to 8 years older than me!

During half time I was looking towards the Kop end to see the half time scores on the electronic scoreboard and up came "Carlisle United 1 Sheffield United 0". I was thinking there is time for us to equalise and maybe score the winner . When the final whistle sounded at S6, a Wendy fan (think he might be from Dronfield) came up to have a chat with my dad as they knew each other, I kept my eye on the electronic scoreboard but up came "Carlisle United 1 Sheffield United 0". My heart sank and then I noticed that the Wendy fan (who was talking to my dad) pointing at me and going "Ha ha ha". What a twat!

During the season we have had three legendary ex-players reporting on our matches. Albert Stubbins, Sam Bartram and now Len Shackleton!
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From the Green Un middle pages that evening.

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Thanks Silent Blade The Carlisle game was a complete unknown to me. Very interesting read. And next … the infamous Hull City game.
 
Great thread SB,i've just been reading back through it this morning,what a season it was,and plenty of good memories ..well,some games i can hardly remember,although i think i only missed 2 or 3 of the home games.
Yeah the Hull game coming up is one of the most memorable,for all the wrong reasons.
 
Great thread SB,i've just been reading back through it this morning,what a season it was,and plenty of good memories ..well,some games i can hardly remember,although i think i only missed 2 or 3 of the home games.
Yeah the Hull game coming up is one of the most memorable,for all the wrong reasons.
The last one we lost that season if my memory serves me well
 
In your #182 ,Silent, you mention 3 great players- Albert Stubbins, Sam Bartram and Len Shackleton. Apart from being famous players they all were famous in other ways. Shackleton for his blank page, in his book, when referring to the Directors' knowledge of football- Bartram for still standing on his goal line 10 minutes after a match had been abandoned for fog (in 1937) and Stubbins for being on the cover of the Sergeant Pepper album.
 
6/3/1971

We were supposed to play a home league match against Hull City but it got re-arranged for Tuesday March 9th because Hull were playing in the FA Cup 6th round match against Stoke. Ken Wagstaff put Hull two up with his cool finishing but Stoke fought back scoring three to win the tie.



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9/3/1971

Blades 1 (Reece) Hull City 2 (Simpkin, Wagstaff)

There was a lot of excitement in the build up to the match. I remember seeing Hodgy being interviewed to talk about the match on either Calendar or Look North just before my dad and I set off for the Lane.

The official attendance for the match was 40,227, which was the highest Lane attendance since Wendy came over in February 1967, and there were plenty of spectators watching from the pavilion end, I was thinking that they must have brought their pair of binoculars so that they could see the match better.

There was still a bit of daylight at kick off time (UK were in BST hours throughout from March 1968 until October 1971) and early in the game Eddie Colquhoun tried to head a Hull long ball to John Hope but had not expected Hope to be too near him and the ball went over the keeper but Len Badger was alert enough to kick the ball away from our goal. It was quite noticeable that both teams were very robust in tackling with Knighton, Neill, Baxter (just signed from Ipswich) and Simpkin being the ones from Hull and some of our players especially Colquhoun, Hockey and TC giving it some back. It was Reece who scored first at the Kop End.

The rough stuff didnt really stop after the goal, not long before half time, the ref blew his whistle and to the crowd's surprise, he called over players from both teams to the centre circle (photo below) warning them he could abandon the game if the rough stuff didnt stop.

The tackles were still flying in the 2nd half but not as bad as in the 1st. Hull's Chris Simpkin equalised with a stunning shot from outside the box that went in off the post. Ken Wagstaff (him again!) scored the winner and it looked like that our promotion chances took a nosedive. I can still remember the hurt after the final whistle.

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From the programme
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Those of us still around who attended that game will certainly never forget it (at least whilst the memory is still in good nick!).
I was on the kop with my girlfriend and we were next to a group of Hull fans. As the game descended into the free for all I got rowing with the Hull lot and my girlfriend buggered off in disgust at me losing my rag over (as she put it), a game of bloody football.
I of course, stayed and watched the rest of the match like any self respecting Blade 😏
She still doesn't get it to this day 🙄

Interestingly Silent, the £2 letter in the following weeks green 'un was from my old PE teacher and school football career mentor, Keith Dowswell.
He was indeed as he stated, a full badge FA coach (he was never shy about the fact) and on reflection, did know his stuff and was quite innovative and in some ways, ahead of his time.

Some years later he was was the FA staff coach who ran the sessions when I took my coaching badges. He remembered me and as a result, had me doing all the demonstrations in the practical stuff we had to cover, it got a bit embarrassing after a day or two!
 
9/3/1971

Blades 1 (Reece) Hull City 2 (Simpkin, Wagstaff)

There was a lot of excitement in the build up to the match. I remember seeing Hodgy being interviewed to talk about the match on either Calendar or Look North just before my dad and I set off for the Lane.

The official attendance for the match was 40,227, which was the highest Lane attendance since Wendy came over in February 1967, and there were plenty of spectators watching from the pavilion end, I was thinking that they must have brought their pair of binoculars so that they could see the match better.

There was still a bit of daylight at kick off time (UK were in BST hours throughout from March 1968 until October 1971) and early in the game Eddie Colquhoun tried to head a Hull long ball to John Hope but had not expected Hope to be too near him and the ball went over the keeper but Len Badger was alert enough to kick the ball away from our goal. It was quite noticeable that both teams were very robust in tackling with Knighton, Neill, Baxter (just signed from Ipswich) and Simpkin being the ones from Hull and some of our players especially Colquhoun, Hockey and TC giving it some back. It was Reece who scored first at the Kop End.

The rough stuff didnt really stop after the goal, not long before half time, the ref blew his whistle and to the crowd's surprise, he called over players from both teams to the centre circle (photo below) warning them he could abandon the game if the rough stuff didnt stop.

The tackles were still flying in the 2nd half but not as bad as in the 1st. Hull's Chris Simpkin equalised with a stunning shot from outside the box that went in off the post. Ken Wagstaff (him again!) scored the winner and it looked like that our promotion chances took a nosedive. I can still remember the hurt after the final whistle.

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From the programme
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Didnt attend as was a night match . My first season watching the Blades , I went a full first season not seeing them defeated (as I missed this home game and didn’t go to away games at that time ) .

The first game I saw us lose was the fa cup home game v Cardiff (1-3) the next season . We did lose at home to Stoke City (2-3) before that but I was on holiday and missed that too .
 
Decided to treat my then girlfriend to the game. First and last time ever took a female to BDBL. We were well and truly kicked to death by the slob Knighton and his gorillas. At least the season had a happy ending.
 
Had a disturbed sleep after going to bed that night and can remember staring out the window into the middle of the night and believing we had blown it,they obviously had come with a plan and it worked for them.
yeah was exactly the same think most blades fans thought we had blown it that night hull were a disgrace that night just came to kick us off the park and they succeeded main culprit being future pig ken knighton
 
Decided to treat my then girlfriend to the game. First and last time ever took a female to BDBL. We were well and truly kicked to death by the slob Knighton and his gorillas. At least the season had a happy ending.
Imagine reffing that game through today’s rules 🤣
 
Went on the Lane end terrace wirh my Dad,we mainly went on the Kop,so probably jinxed us as can't remember ever seeing us win going on there,although saw us beat Southampton sat in the upper tier a couple of seasons ir so earlier.
There was a few Hull fans stood next to us,and remember them saying how the Kop had an echo,and i always liked looking at the Kop on night games from that end..seeing silhouettes of people in the gangway entraces milling about,aling with the flickers of light dotted about from lighting fags.
It was x rated stuff on the pitch,lKnighton,Simpkin,Chilton and others wouldn't have been out of place playing for Hull KR...bad night,over 40k in,home record gone,but it worked out ok in the end.
 
13/3/1971

QPR 2 (Marsh 2) Blades 2 (Woodward, Hemsley pen)

After the heartbreaking home defeat to Hull 4 days earlier, my dad didnt fancy a trip to West London so we went to the Lane to watch our reserves beat Blackburn 5-2

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Interesting that future Blade David Bradford played in the reserves match. I remember keeping my eyes at the Cricket Pavilion scoreboard for score updates on our match at QPR more than remembering any of the 7 goals in the reserves match.

About 30 minutes of play my dad heard from the spectators that our star defender, David Powell got carried off at Loftus Road and then passed the info to me. Not long after that we could see from the scoreboard that QPR were leading by a goal. Midway in the 2nd half it was revealed on the scoreboard that QPR added another goal. I was thinking "Three defeats in a row!" and our promotion chances were getting more remote.

After the final whistle at the Lane, before I made for the exits, I looked at the scoreboard for one more time and it was still 2-0. My dad and I then were about to turn left after leaving the exit on John Street and then all of a sudden there were excited shouts and confusion on the pavements so my dad and I rushed back towards the John Street Terraces, on the way I saw a tall man with tache at the exit raising both hands signalling "2-2", I was praying that he wasnt joking and then when I saw the 2-2 at the cricket pavilion scoreboard , it was a big swing from despair to joy and it was the same for others who had rushed back into the ground like my dad and I did! Sadly, it was Dave Powell's last 1st team match for us. I am quite sure he would have been a star defender for us in the 1st division if it wasnt for his injury. He moved to Cardiff City during the 1972-73 season and made 36 first team games for them in two seasons before retiring through injury. He was one of the policemen at match duty when we won 2-0 at Ninian Park in October 1976 (Simon Stainrod scored both goals, Gary Hamson's debut).

I dont remember being aware of Hull's surprise home defeat to Oxford.

Rodney Marsh scoring the 2nd goal
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Reports of the reserves match I went to
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Fond memories of this match.
Coach trip down with my school friend Paul, parked up at White City, standing behind the goal where we scored our late goals.
Dave Powell's injury was of course a dreadful blow but we weren't aware of the long term consequences at the time.
Can still see Bill Dearden's sharp turn which got the late penalty and Ted's thumping pen.
A few minutes earlier we'd been looking at a 2- Nil defeat.
The Hull defeat hadn't put us off going and we were eventually rewarded with a draw that felt like a win.
Of course we didn't realise that we wouldn't lose again until Old Trafford the following season!
 
Looking back at the table,a lot of teams had a decent chance of promotion at that stage, Carlisle had no away form which let them down badly,Luton had 2 games in hand on us at that stage,that Hull score must have gutted them,so quite a few teams were kicking themselves at the end of the season
 



Looking back at the table,a lot of teams had a decent chance of promotion at that stage, Carlisle had no away form which let them down badly,Luton had 2 games in hand on us at that stage,that Hull score must have gutted them,so quite a few teams were kicking themselves at the end of the season
Cardiff had just beaten Real Madrid 1-0 in the Cup Winners Cup quarter final 1st leg
 

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