50 years ago today

[Silent Blade]

27/3/1971

Bristol City 0 Blades 1 (Currie)

I was at Derby deaf school that day as my class were taking part in the National Deaf Children Society Mime contest. Pat Keysall (from the Vision On tv programme) was one of the judges. I was the Policeman arresting a thief in the performance produced by my class teacher. At the end of the contest, during Pat Keysell's speech, my class were selected to compete in the Mime finals at London in June.

Afterwards my family went to do some shopping in the town centre (Derby wasnt a city then). I was thinking how the Blades were doing at Bristol City and when we walked through the market stalls, my dad heard a transistor radio on one of the stalls announcing the football results so he pulled out his newspaper that he had in his suit pocket and a pen so that he would write down the results on the back page of the paper and I would be watching him jotting down. I waited patiently as he was writing down the first division scores before moving on to the 2nd division, I was getting more nervous and when it came down to our match , he wrote down 0-1, I yelled in joy probably making the people near us think I was mad. My yell had caused my dad to miss the score for Leicester v Oxford which was just below our match in the list. Luckily the radio announced the results again and this time we did get the Leicester v Oxford score which was 0-0 and it was good news to us! Hull and Carlisle dropped a point too. Both Cardiff and Luton lost and we were back to 2nd place.

There was only one report of the match from the 1970/71 scrapbook I have.

TC celebrating his goal

 

[Isaw Joeshaw]

Terrific photo of TC that I’ve not seen before .

What a player and what a privilege it was for those of us fortunate enough to have seen him in his prime .

 

[Bert]

27/3/1971

Bristol City 0 Blades 1 (Currie)

I was at Derby deaf school that day as my class were taking part in the National Deaf Children Society Mime contest. Pat Keysall (from the Vision On tv programme) was one of the judges. I was the Policeman arresting a thief in the performance produced by my class teacher. At the end of the contest, during Pat Keysell's speech, my class were selected to compete in the Mime finals at London in June.

Afterwards my family went to do some shopping in the town centre (Derby wasnt a city then). I was thinking how the Blades were doing at Bristol City and when we walked through the market stalls, my dad heard a transistor radio on one of the stalls announcing the football results so he pulled out his newspaper that he had in his suit pocket and a pen so that he would write down the results on the back page of the paper and I would be watching him jotting down. I waited patiently as he was writing down the first division scores before moving on to the 2nd division, I was getting more nervous and when it came down to our match , he wrote down 0-1, I yelled in joy probably making the people near us think I was mad. My yell had caused my dad to miss the score for Leicester v Oxford which was just below our match in the list. Luckily the radio announced the results again and this time we did get the Leicester v Oxford score which was 0-0 and it was good news to us! Hull and Carlisle dropped a point too. Both Cardiff and Luton lost and we were back to 2nd place.

There was only one report of the match from the 1970/71 scrapbook I have.

TC celebrating his goal

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What massive crowds Birmingham were getting in those days.

 

[Silent Blade]

What massive crowds Birmingham were getting in those days.

Surprised me. Brum fans coming back after reading about the 16 year old wonder who scored 4 goals against Bolton recently? There must be a lot of Cardiff fans there too.

 

[Blade1959]

Surprised me. Brum fans coming back after reading about the 16 year old wonder who scored 4 goals against Bolton recently? There must be a lot of Cardiff fans there too.

Looks like they were on a good run of form, won 8 & drawn 2 of the last 10 games. Put them only 4 points off the top and a chance of going up.
As you say Cardiff will have had a lot there too, and Villa being in the 3rd division might have seen a lot of floating fans there too?

 

[Silent Blade]

3/4/1971

Blades 0 Norwich 0

I was surprised to read in the Green Un report this week that a camel was paraded round the pitch before the match. Do anyone remember this? I must have missed that , probably arriving at the ground just before the kick off.

I thought we were lucky to pick up a point because John Hope was in fine form making a number of saves also Norwich had a goal disallowed and to this day I still do not know why the ref had disallowed it. It happened at the Lane End in the 2nd half, there was a set piece move (from a corner I think), Alan Black put the ball in the net despite Ted Hemsley getting a touch to it trying to clear the ball off the line.

We were outplayed twice in both games against Norwich that season. No surprise they won the 2nd division title the following season.

On the same day, Leicester, Cardiff, Hull and Luton had won their matches as we slipped down to 3rd place in the table.

In the next day, highlights of the match was shown on YTV and I missed watching the programme because I was watching a "Comic match" between parents of Maud Maxfield pupils and parents of Gosforth school pupils at the Maud Maxfield playing fields.







Watch out, Woody is having a crack!
My dad and I are on the front row (A85) next to the steps leading to the gangway in the BLUT between "Kills Coughs" and "Metals"


















From the programme.

 

[ancientblade]

3/4/1971

Blades 0 Norwich 0

I was surprised to read in the Green Un report this week that a camel was paraded round the pitch before the match. Do anyone remember this? I must have missed that , probably arriving at the ground just before the kick off.

I thought we were lucky to pick up a point because John Hope was in fine form making a number of saves also Norwich had a goal disallowed and to this day I still do not know why the ref had disallowed it. It happened at the Lane End in the 2nd half, there was a set piece move (from a corner I think), Alan Black put the ball in the net despite Ted Hemsley getting a touch to it trying to clear the ball off the line.

We were outplayed twice in both games against Norwich that season. No surprise they won the 2nd division title the following season.

On the same day, Leicester, Cardiff, Hull and Luton had won their matches as we slipped down to 3rd place in the table.

In the next day, highlights of the match was shown on YTV and I missed watching the programme because I was watching a "Comic match" between parents of Maud Maxfield pupils and parents of Gosforth school pupils at the Maud Maxfield playing fields.


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Watch out, Woody is having a crack!
My dad and I are on the front row (A85) next to the steps leading to the gangway in the BLUT between "Kills Coughs" and "Metals"

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From the programme.
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yeah dissapointing home draw that with norwich can remember the shoreham singing 'were all going to the zoo on monday' lol

 

[wavy-blade]

United won 6-0 on the day I got married, Deane and Agana both got a hat trick , It made the day as at the reception I was asking how we had gone on ( before mobiles ) and I didn’t believe anyone till someone gave me a copy of the green un.

 

[metalblade]

What's this about camels? I used to see a lot of strange things after falling out of the Whetstone at ten to three can't ever remember seeing a camel though

 

[SUFC Handsworth]

Nice to see a packed Kop in the photos, and for that matter BL and John Street (21k attendance really?)

Never been a fan of the Kop since they seated but back in the 80s went in there most of the times and generally either stood on the upper part of the corner section, or on the open bit on the other side. Got a perfect view of that fat pig Sterland prancing around the corner flag after he'd scored for Leeds on Boxing day 1989, not a pretty sight!

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

3/4/1971

Blades 0 Norwich 0

I was surprised to read in the Green Un report this week that a camel was paraded round the pitch before the match. Do anyone remember this? I must have missed that , probably arriving at the ground just before the kick off.

I thought we were lucky to pick up a point because John Hope was in fine form making a number of saves also Norwich had a goal disallowed and to this day I still do not know why the ref had disallowed it. It happened at the Lane End in the 2nd half, there was a set piece move (from a corner I think), Alan Black put the ball in the net despite Ted Hemsley getting a touch to it trying to clear the ball off the line.

We were outplayed twice in both games against Norwich that season. No surprise they won the 2nd division title the following season.

On the same day, Leicester, Cardiff, Hull and Luton had won their matches as we slipped down to 3rd place in the table.

In the next day, highlights of the match was shown on YTV and I missed watching the programme because I was watching a "Comic match" between parents of Maud Maxfield pupils and parents of Gosforth school pupils at the Maud Maxfield playing fields.


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Watch out, Woody is having a crack!
My dad and I are on the front row (A85) next to the steps leading to the gangway in the BLUT between "Kills Coughs" and "Metals"

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From the programme.
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So was it a camel or a dromedary? Or does that question have to go in the Natural History Thread?
I felt nervous just reading about that match. That promotion race was quite hairy (especially with Hockey in the team!) I was away working for a couple of weeks, and knew little of what was going on at the Lane.

 

[Silent Blade]

MOTD cameras were at the match. My dad and I were sat at the top of the "Double Decker" stand behind the goal.

John Flynn, making his third appearance of the season, replaced David Ford in our only change in our line up. Thinking about it now, I wonder if we did really play with just one centre back in the previous three games since Dave Powell's injury at QPR? I cant imagine Barlow or Hockey being Eddie Colquhoun's centre back partner.

Willie Carlin was a player that my dad had admired and he was telling me that Carlin used to play for us. Now he is a Leicester player (I was aware of him when he played for his previous club Derby) but to my surprise my dad was giving Carlin quite a bit of stick during the top of the table clash and calling him "a bloody nuisance" . In the 1st half Leicester's Len Glover (who scored the first goal in my first away game at the same ground in the previous season) got carried off and replaced by Malcolm Partridge. I saw Glover using crutches outside the players entrance outside the ground after the match. We nearly scored first when Len Badger took a throw in near the halfway line and then he received a return pass, took a few steps before hitting a 40 yarder (see photo below) that had beaten Peter Shilton but unfortunately the ball crashed against the bar and came back into play. On MOTD that evening they showed that shot as the "near miss" preview before the full highlights were on. I would have loved to see the footage again as it was a cracking shot that deserved to be a goal.



In the 2nd half I thought Leicester were going to score after a mix up in our defence and Partridge's header after a free kick was going towards the empty net but, quick as flash, Len Badger appeared from nowhere to clear the ball away from the line. I wasnt aware until I read the below report that John Hope thought the ref had whistled to stop play but the whistle came from someone in the crowd. I watched the MOTD highlights at my twin uncles house in Hartley Brook road that evening and it did appear on TV that there was a very little chance of preventing the ball from going in the net and it was at the very last second when Badger appeared on the tv set to make the point saver.

Looking at other results, Cardiff and Hull drew their matches

 

[Silent Blade]

From Leicester Mercury

 

[Carlton Blade]

United won 6-0 on the day I got married, Deane and Agana both got a hat trick , It made the day as at the reception I was asking how we had gone on ( before mobiles ) and I didn’t believe anyone till someone gave me a copy of the green un.

Was that the Chester game?

 

[ancientblade]

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MOTD cameras were at the match. My dad and I were sat at the top of the "Double Decker" stand behind the goal.

John Flynn, making his third appearance of the season, replaced David Ford in our only change in our line up. Thinking about it now, I wonder if we did really play with just one centre back in the previous three games since Dave Powell's injury at QPR? I cant imagine Barlow or Hockey being Eddie Colquhoun's centre back partner.

Willie Carlin was a player that my dad had admired and he was telling me that Carlin used to play for us. Now he is a Leicester player (I was aware of him when he played for his previous club Derby) but to my surprise my dad was giving Carlin quite a bit of stick during the top of the table clash and calling him "a bloody nuisance" . In the 1st half Leicester's Len Glover (who scored the first goal in my first away game at the same ground in the previous season) got carried off and replaced by Malcolm Partridge. I saw Glover using crutches outside the players entrance outside the ground after the match. We nearly scored first when Len Badger took a throw in near the halfway line and then he received a return pass, took a few steps before hitting a 40 yarder (see photo below) that had beaten Peter Shilton but unfortunately the ball crashed against the bar and came back into play. On MOTD that evening they showed that shot as the "near miss" preview before the full highlights were on. I would have loved to see the footage again as it was a cracking shot that deserved to be a goal.

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In the 2nd half I thought Leicester were going to score after a mix up in our defence and Partridge's header after a free kick was going towards the empty net but, quick as flash, Len Badger appeared from nowhere to clear the ball away from the line. I wasnt aware until I read the below report that John Hope thought the ref had whistled to stop play but the whistle came from someone in the crowd. I watched the MOTD highlights at my twin uncles house in Hartley Brook road that evening and it did appear on TV that there was a very little chance of preventing the ball from going in the net and it was at the very last second when Badger appeared on the tv set to make the point saver.

Looking at other results, Cardiff and Hull drew their matches

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was at that game silent right behind goal in that little shed end it was a great point for us we could easily have lost that game stand out memory for me of the day was 4 of us drinking outside a pub in leicester and hearing a massive roar coming up from the train station down the road thought it was our boys but as they came round the corner it was about 600 leicester fans as you can imagine we got back inside sharpish lol

 

[bornablade]

From Leicester Mercury

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Looking at that 'City Summary' I remember the Green 'Un having a summary of the matches of our local teams on its front page. It wasn't headed 'Summary' just the names of the teams.

The Football League it seems had tried its best to have matches between teams with as fewer miles to travel as possible. Must have been to help supporters and teams with Easter Monday / Tuesday fixtures coming up.

 

[Steelcitysenior]

Found more photos and match reports in below link

Match Report: Luton Town vs Sheffield United 1970/1971 | Hatters Heritage

www.hattersheritage.co.uk

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Waited outside the players entrance to get Macdonald's autograph, he was a great player in his day. I was 13 at the time, just started going to the match with mate's rather than Wednesday supporting Dad. Who to be fair would watch both Sheffield teams. Sit on the south stand at Hillsborough, stand on the Kop at the lane. Does anyone still do that?

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

. Sit on the south stand at Hillsborough, stand on the Kop at the lane. Does anyone still do that?

If they did, I’d shout at them ‘Sit down.’

 

[Silent Blade]

My first Sheffield league derby at S6 but unfortunately I have only two memories of that day. Before the kick off my dad and I were finding our way to our seats in the North stand and my dad spotted someone he knew some rows behind us , both waved at each other and this fan raised his hand, opening his palm shouting "we will get five!". I think he was an overconfident Blade rather than a deluded Wendy fan. The other memory was watching the match ref giving the signal for a free kick near the halfway line with his arm raised indicating an indirect free kick. At that time I didnt know what "indirect" meant and I was wondering why the ref kept his arm up for more than a second or two after the free kick was taken. I dont remember if we attacked the Kop or the Leppings Lane End in the 1st half.

Leicester and Hull won their matches that day, Cardiff didnt have a game so we were still in third place, a point behind Cardiff with 5 games left to play and Cardiff had a game in hand.

Years later I was reading the Morning Telegraph report of the match at the Local archives in the Sheffield Central Library and interestingly Wendy's manager , Derek Dooley, dismissed Blades promotion chances!

When I first saw the below photo (either in the following Saturday's programme or during the close season) I was surprised that I didnt remember the incident that looked like Peter Grummitt was about to trip Gil Reece in the penalty box. Maybe I missed the incident because I was in the toilet at the time or someone sitting in front of me stood up blocking my view of the incident?

 

[bornablade]

I don't remember anything about the game apart from sitting in the south stand at the kop end.

Could have done with VAR on the Reece penalty.

John Adams, FA North Regional coach mentioned there in Peter Cooper's report - I remember him coming to my school a few times to give us coaching lessons. Always came across as a very knowledgeable guy.

 

[Gaini Blade]

Lol! Dont even remember the faces at the party!

But there was jelly & ice cream, right....?

 

[ancientblade]

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My first Sheffield league derby at S6 but unfortunately I have only two memories of that day. Before the kick off my dad and I were finding our way to our seats in the North stand and my dad spotted someone he knew some rows behind us , both waved at each other and this fan raised his hand, opening his palm shouting "we will get five!". I think he was an overconfident Blade rather than a deluded Wendy fan. The other memory was watching the match ref giving the signal for a free kick near the halfway line with his arm raised indicating an indirect free kick. At that time I didnt know what "indirect" meant and I was wondering why the ref kept his arm up for more than a second or two after the free kick was taken. I dont remember if we attacked the Kop or the Leppings Lane End in the 1st half.

Leicester and Hull won their matches that day, Cardiff didnt have a game so we were still in third place, a point behind Cardiff with 5 games left to play and Cardiff had a game in hand.

Years later I was reading the Morning Telegraph report of the match at the Local archives in the Sheffield Central Library and interestingly Wendy's manager , Derek Dooley, dismissed Blades promotion chances!

When I first saw the below photo (either in the following Saturday's programme or during the close season) I was surprised that I didnt remember the incident that looked like Peter Grummitt was about to trip Gil Reece in the penalty box. Maybe I missed the incident because I was in the toilet at the time or someone sitting in front of me stood up blocking my view of the incident?

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united had better of the first half but wednesday edged the second half have to say it was one of the most uneventful derby games i have seen but think john harris was satisfied with the point

 

[Silent Blade]

For more than 80 minutes we had majority of the play but failed to convert the chances against the defensive minded Millwall. During the 2nd half the ball was in the Millwall half for about 90% of the time as we attacked the goal at the Lane End, Millwall's striker Barry Bridges looking a lonely figure in the centre circle.

In the 82nd minute Millwall's keeper Bryan King caught a corner and was about to boot the ball upfield, Trevor Hockey closed him down , used his right hand to knock the ball off King's hands and and Hockey then slid on the ground to put the loose ball into the net. I wasnt impressed with Hockey's horseplay and saw it as a waste of time. Hockey seemed to be surprised when Dearden ran to congratulate him and that confused me too. I noticed some spectators near me were cheering half heartedly then my dad pulled me up from my seat encouraging me to cheer, my next reaction was to look at the ref and I couldnt believe my eyes that he pointed his finger towards the centre spot allowing the goal to stand. Not surprisingly the furious Millwall players surrounded the ref in protest and persuaded him to speak to the linesman but the ref stood firm. It was a big relief that we eventually scored but I found it a bit embarrassing!

The controversy !


Players running to congratulate Hockey


In injury time a bizarre own goal made sure of the win.

Leicester, Hull and Cardiff drew their matches and with four games left to play we were still in 3rd place behind Cardiff (who have a game in hand over us) on goal average.

The run in for the top 3 were

Leicester (52 points) Sunderland (a), Charlton (h), Bristol City (a), Portsmouth (a)

Cardiff (49) Watford (h), Norwich (a), Blades (a), Orient (h), Luton (a)

Blades (49) Birmingham (h), Boro (a), Cardiff (h), Watford (h)








From the programme

 

[Pedro Verde]

The Football League it seems had tried its best to have matches between teams with as fewer miles to travel as possible. Must have been to help supporters and teams with Easter Monday / Tuesday fixtures coming up.

Should have continued with that in the late 70s
1978 we played Fulham away on Good Friday 11am ko came back to Sheffield for a home game on the Saturday then back down to London on Easter Monday away at Orient 11am ko pretty tired and hugover after that weekend

 

[Blade1959]

Should have continued with that in the late 70s
1978 we played Fulham away on Good Friday 11am ko came back to Sheffield for a home game on the Saturday then back down to London on Easter Monday away at Orient 11am ko pretty tired and hugover after that weekend

Remember that weekend well, coach broke down on the way to Fulham, had to wait outside the ground for a replacement & there was a few “unfriendly” Chelsea fans knocking about!

 

[ancientblade]

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For more than 80 minutes we had majority of the play but failed to convert the chances against the defensive minded Millwall. During the 2nd half the ball was in the Millwall half for about 90% of the time as we attacked the goal at the Lane End, Millwall's striker Barry Bridges looking a lonely figure in the centre circle.

In the 82nd minute Millwall's keeper Bryan King caught a corner and was about to boot the ball upfield, Trevor Hockey closed him down , used his right hand to knock the ball off King's hands and and Hockey then slid on the ground to put the loose ball into the net. I wasnt impressed with Hockey's horseplay and saw it as a waste of time. Hockey seemed to be surprised when Dearden ran to congratulate him and that confused me too. I noticed some spectators near me were cheering half heartedly then my dad pulled me up from my seat encouraging me to cheer, my next reaction was to look at the ref and I couldnt believe my eyes that he pointed his finger towards the centre spot allowing the goal to stand. Not surprisingly the furious Millwall players surrounded the ref in protest and persuaded him to speak to the linesman but the ref stood firm. It was a big relief that we eventually scored but I found it a bit embarrassing!

The controversy !
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Players running to congratulate Hockey
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In injury time a bizarre own goal made sure of the win.

Leicester, Hull and Cardiff drew their matches and with four games left to play we were still in 3rd place behind Cardiff (who have a game in hand over us) on goal average.

The run in for the top 3 were

Leicester (52 points) Sunderland (a), Charlton (h), Bristol City (a), Portsmouth (a)

Cardiff (49) Watford (h), Norwich (a), Blades (a), Orient (h), Luton (a)

Blades (49) Birmingham (h), Boro (a), Cardiff (h), Watford (h)

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From the programme

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t

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For more than 80 minutes we had majority of the play but failed to convert the chances against the defensive minded Millwall. During the 2nd half the ball was in the Millwall half for about 90% of the time as we attacked the goal at the Lane End, Millwall's striker Barry Bridges looking a lonely figure in the centre circle.

In the 82nd minute Millwall's keeper Bryan King caught a corner and was about to boot the ball upfield, Trevor Hockey closed him down , used his right hand to knock the ball off King's hands and and Hockey then slid on the ground to put the loose ball into the net. I wasnt impressed with Hockey's horseplay and saw it as a waste of time. Hockey seemed to be surprised when Dearden ran to congratulate him and that confused me too. I noticed some spectators near me were cheering half heartedly then my dad pulled me up from my seat encouraging me to cheer, my next reaction was to look at the ref and I couldnt believe my eyes that he pointed his finger towards the centre spot allowing the goal to stand. Not surprisingly the furious Millwall players surrounded the ref in protest and persuaded him to speak to the linesman but the ref stood firm. It was a big relief that we eventually scored but I found it a bit embarrassing!

The controversy !
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Players running to congratulate Hockey
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In injury time a bizarre own goal made sure of the win.

Leicester, Hull and Cardiff drew their matches and with four games left to play we were still in 3rd place behind Cardiff (who have a game in hand over us) on goal average.

The run in for the top 3 were

Leicester (52 points) Sunderland (a), Charlton (h), Bristol City (a), Portsmouth (a)

Cardiff (49) Watford (h), Norwich (a), Blades (a), Orient (h), Luton (a)

Blades (49) Birmingham (h), Boro (a), Cardiff (h), Watford (h)

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From the programme

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those last 4 fixtures with 3 at home were significant in us getting promotion in 71 silent see the boro away game is coming up that was a hairy day on their end and never been to a more bleaker place than middlesbro at that time

 

[Silent Blade]

16/4/1971.

My dad arranged with Ted Hemsley to take me, my dad, the late Andrew Gill and his two sisters to have a tour inside the John Street stand where the changing rooms are and to walk through the player tunnel to see the ground staff making preparations on the pitch. John Hope greeted me when we went to look in the changing room. The players were listening to the racing results from the transistor radio. Paddy Buckley seemed to be the club's bookmaker as I saw TC and Woody giving money to him. My dad had a long chat with Colin Addison in the tunnel. We saw team sheets for the 1st team, reserves and youth teams being pinned up on the notice board so I knew who were in our team for the home game against Birmingham in the next day although the Star would reveal the teams later in the evening. I was a little amused that we had a youth player called France (he played 2 1st team games 3 years later)

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

16/4/1971.

My dad arranged with Ted Hemsley to take me, my dad, the late Andrew Gill and his two sisters to have a tour inside the John Street stand where the changing rooms are and to walk through the player tunnel to see the ground staff making preparations on the pitch. John Hope greeted me when we went to look in the changing room. The players were listening to the racing results from the transistor radio. Paddy Buckley seemed to be the club's bookmaker as I saw TC and Woody giving money to him. My dad had a long chat with Colin Addison in the tunnel. We saw team sheets for the 1st team, reserves and youth teams being pinned up on the notice board so I knew who were in our team for the home game against Birmingham in the next day although the Star would reveal the teams later in the evening. I was a little amused that we had a youth player called France (he played 2 1st team games 3 years later)

On behalf of all people whose surname is also the name of a country, I would like to point out that it is not in the slightest bit amusing...

 

[Jon B]

View attachment 110526

For more than 80 minutes we had majority of the play but failed to convert the chances against the defensive minded Millwall. During the 2nd half the ball was in the Millwall half for about 90% of the time as we attacked the goal at the Lane End, Millwall's striker Barry Bridges looking a lonely figure in the centre circle.

In the 82nd minute Millwall's keeper Bryan King caught a corner and was about to boot the ball upfield, Trevor Hockey closed him down , used his right hand to knock the ball off King's hands and and Hockey then slid on the ground to put the loose ball into the net. I wasnt impressed with Hockey's horseplay and saw it as a waste of time. Hockey seemed to be surprised when Dearden ran to congratulate him and that confused me too. I noticed some spectators near me were cheering half heartedly then my dad pulled me up from my seat encouraging me to cheer, my next reaction was to look at the ref and I couldnt believe my eyes that he pointed his finger towards the centre spot allowing the goal to stand. Not surprisingly the furious Millwall players surrounded the ref in protest and persuaded him to speak to the linesman but the ref stood firm. It was a big relief that we eventually scored but I found it a bit embarrassing!

The controversy !
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Players running to congratulate Hockey
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That Trevor Hockey goal was a huge relief and vital for our promotion success as we'd begun to wonder, after the run of goalless draws, if we'd stopped scoring at just the wrong time and with it coming so late in the game, it had seemed nailed on for another 0-0.

I'd not seen the photo of him with his hand seemingly about to pull the ball from King's grasp. I was in the Bramall Lane End behind the goal where it took place and all these years I'd thought it was a collision with the ball breaking loose and Trevor just managing to sweep it home! Fortunately, the ref must have thought the same.

A dodgy goal against that Millwall outfit? Couldn't have happened to a better team!

 

[Silent Blade]

17/4/1971

Blades 3 (Reece 2, Woodward) Birmingham 0

Before the match the Watford player in the photo below didnt really mean much to me or to SUFC. More of him later on in this post.



There was one change to our line up from the last match, Geoff Salmons replacing David Ford who goes on the sub's bench.

A photographer seemed to be keen on taking photos of the 16 year old wonder kid who was to turn 17 two days later.






You can see in the photo below during a lull in play in the 1st half that it wasnt just the Wendy match that the scoreboard man was providing score updates every 15 minutes. With 4 games left the crowd would be looking out for the latest updates of matches involving other promotion contenders.




In the match report it stated that Trevor Hockey suffered concussion during the 1st half. I am not sure if it was the same match when the club doctor took Hockey to treat his injury in the changing room and some minutes later Hockey ran back on the pitch to loud cheers from the crowd.

Just before half time, attacking the Kop End, Gil Reece scored a lovely goal after beating two or three players in a mazy run before coolly placing the ball past Mike Kelly.



During half time it was decided that Hockey couldnt continue and Ford would take his place.



Peter Cooper seems to say in his report below that Woody didnt have a good game despite scoring our 2nd goal, I do not remember what his goal was like.

There was another lull in play when we were leading by 2-0 which I remember very well. There was little excitement amongst the crowd which made many fans look towards the scoreboard at the pavilion. It indicated that Watford (4th from bottom of the table and without a win in the previous 8 games) had just scored at 2nd placed Cardiff!! My dad noticed the score before I did and pointing it out to me saying "Watford have just scored at Cardiff!!" and the cheers around the ground grew louder and it seemed cause confusion to some of our players (luckily it happened during a lull in play when the trainer was treating an injured player). I looked toward the centre circle and Eddie Colquhoun was looking bemused at what was happening, Bob Latchford was next to him and seemed to know what had happened so he pointed Eddie to the scoreboard. Eddie's response was that he didnt want to lose his focus on the pitch.

The Watford scorer was Charlie Woods (you saw the photo of him at the start of this post) and the photo is the goal he scored on that day (I found it in a Watford fan's website a few days ago)



Now back to Bramall Lane. Gil Reece scored our third goal with a wonderful flying header meeting Woody's cross. Watching from the BLUT I can still picture him flying like a torpedo to meet the cross as if it had happened last week.


Also memorable was John Hope's full length diving catch to stop Roger Hynd's header. I do not remember Phil Summerill's missed penalty.

Reece was applauded off the field after the final whistle.



There were a lot of smiling faces outside the ground, we bumped into a friend's of my dad and he gave me the thumbs up saying "Reece" and then mimed Reece's header by leaning forward and heading an imaginary ball.







From the programme





Saw the below match on MOTD that evening. I still think the ref made the right decision by allowing Tony Brown to continue in the build up to the 2nd goal.