I have often wondered if the fact that that game was shown on TV was a big factor in the career of John Hope. His career at the Lane started well, but his confidence and the crowd’s confidence in him never seemed to recover. He also became the butt of jokes from our ‘friends’ in S6, which is never a good sign for a keeper.
well they had nowt else to crow about hodgy at that time but i agree dont think john hope was ever the same keeper after that game mind we had a good un coming through at that time tom mcallister pity marsh ruined his career
I had forgotten about my "strop" just after finding out the result at Upton Park three days earlier until I had discovered my dad telling his mates that I was thinking about supporting another team. Graham Beresford and Nip Hague who travelled with us to Derby in my dad's car were giving me a bit of stick about it! They looked at me and shook their heads as if I had committed a crime!
My dad and I had got into the upper stand behind the goal that the Blades attacked in the 1st half. The tickets we were given were for single seats a few rows apart. My dad tried to persuade quite a few to give up their seat and use my (or my dad's) seat number but all refused! I had to sit between two strangers whilst my dad was sat a few rows behind me. The one that sat next to my left was a pipe smoker and obviously a vocal Derby fan. I felt miserable throughout the match as Derby banged in three goals. Since then , for a long time I have disliked Derby except when they played in the 1972-73 and 1975-76 European Cup.
I had missed what metalblade had described below. I asked my Uncle Ronnie about it a few years ago, he confirmed that the story was true although he had missed the incident as he was in the pub at the time but found out when a few told him about it when he got into the ground
I always remember in the early 70's at the baseball ground Sir Brian was trying to do a TV interview or it could have been a manager of the month presentation in front of the players tunnel, the trouble was around 500 -1000 Unitedites were in the ground early and on the Pop side making a lot of noise singing songs that were definitely not fit to be heard on Football Focus or MOTD and generally goading and fighting with the Police. After a few minutes Brian dressed in his best suit ran over and jumped in with the Unitedites marching into the centre of the mob, well all the bollocks stopped and it all went quiet as Brian asked everyone for five minutes quiet while he did the TV interview. Strangely there was hardly a sound until the TV work was done and Brian turned to the crowd and waved a thank you.
I had forgotten about my "strop" just after finding out the result at Upton Park three days earlier until I had discovered my dad telling his mates that I was thinking about supporting another team. Graham Beresford and Nip Hague who travelled with us to Derby in my dad's car were giving me a bit of stick about it! They looked at me and shook their heads as if I had committed a crime!
My dad and I had got into the upper stand behind the goal that the Blades attacked in the 1st half. The tickets we were given were for single seats a few rows apart. My dad tried to persuade quite a few to give up their seat and use my (or my dad's) seat number but all refused! I had to sit between two strangers whilst my dad was sat a few rows behind me. The one that sat next to my left was a pipe smoker and obviously a vocal Derby fan. I felt miserable throughout the match as Derby banged in three goals. Since then , for a long time I have disliked Derby except when they played in the 1972-73 and 1975-76 European Cup.
I had missed what metalblade had described below. I asked my Uncle Ronnie about it a few years ago, he confirmed that the story was true although he had missed the incident as he was in the pub at the time but found out when a few told him about it when he got into the ground
oh dear here it is another miserable afternoon at the baseball ground we were behind the goal where hinton got his 2nd penalty think most blades were on the pop side as usual strange ground the pitch was above the terracing if you were low down and the pitch was always a bog went there 3 times and never saw us score a goal lol horrible area round the ground as well
oh dear here it is another miserable afternoon at the baseball ground we were behind the goal where hinton got his 2nd penalty think most blades were on the pop side as usual strange ground the pitch was above the terracing if you were low down and the pitch was always a bog went there 3 times and never saw us score a goal lol horrible area round the ground as well
missed those games was there in 68/69 when they won league 1 - 0 defeat 70 4th round cup game 3 - 0 defeat and fun and games on the pop side and this 3 - 0 defeat hated the baseball ground
Up to that day, the highest number of goals I saw us score was 5 against Blackburn and Cardiff in March and April 1971 also I had never seen a Blade score a hat trick. I had not expected us to score as many as 7 in a first division match.
I seem to recall that Ipswich looked dangerous in the early stages of the match and still remember ex-Blade Mick Hill miskicking a shot inside the penalty box at the Lane End.
Then came the 4 goals from the 9th minute to half time
The first was a firm ground shot from Woody
Geoff Salmons then set off a solo run on the left before being brought down inside the penalty box, a definite penalty , it was. Woody then sent Sivell the wrong way with the penalty.
Gil Reece headed in a Woody corner to put us 3 up.
Just before half time Len Badger blasted a shot about 35 yards away on the right, Sivell seemed to have the shot covered, he seemed to try to push the ball over the bar but helped it to inside the top of the net. 4-0!
After half time Bill Dearden broke through the offside trap and hit the 5th beating Sivell in an one to one situation.
The 6th goal was the best of all, Woody hitting a left footed rising shot to the top of the net past a diving Sivell.
And the joy, the first time I saw a Blade clinching a hat trick.
We hadnt finished scoring when Sivell failed to hold a low cross by Salmons from the left.
Woody toasting his achievement in the dressing room after the match.
I remembered watching all the 7 goals on YTV highlights in the next day. For years I hadnt realised that YTV televised the 1st half in colour (I had B & W tv at the time) and the 2nd half in black and white. I was very disappointed that the YTV video of our goals between 1968 and 1981 (produced in 1993) didnt include any of the 7 goals of the Ipswich match. I wrote to YTV asking for their reasons of the exclusion. They wrote back explaining that they thought the picture quality of the match wasnt good enough to be in the video so they didnt include any of the 7 goals. Then I remembered a Saints and Greavsie programme a few years earlier showing Woody's 3rd and 4th goal in that match. Watch from 16 mins 7 secs in below video
Scores, scorers and line ups of matches that day are in the below link.
Up to that day, the highest number of goals I saw us score was 5 against Blackburn and Cardiff in March and April 1971 also I had never seen a Blade score a hat trick. I had not expected us to score as many as 7 in a first division match.
I seem to recall that Ipswich looked dangerous in the early stages of the match and still remember ex-Blade Mick Hill miskicking a shot inside the penalty box at the Lane End.
Then came the 4 goals from the 9th minute to half time
Geoff Salmons then set off a solo run on the left before being brought down inside the penalty box, a definite penalty , it was. Woody then sent Sivell the wrong way with the penalty.
Just before half time Len Badger blasted a shot about 35 yards away on the right, Sivell seemed to have the shot covered, he seemed to try to push the ball over the bar but helped it to inside the top of the net. 4-0!
I remembered watching all the 7 goals on YTV highlights in the next day. For years I hadnt realised that YTV televised the 1st half in colour (I had B & W tv at the time) and the 2nd half in black and white. I was very disappointed that the YTV video of our goals between 1968 and 1981 (produced in 1993) didnt include any of the 7 goals of the Ipswich match. I wrote to YTV asking for their reasons of the exclusion. They wrote back explaining that they thought the picture quality of the match wasnt good enough to be in the video so they didnt include any of the 7 goals. Then I remembered a Saints and Greavsie programme a few years earlier showing Woody's 3rd and 4th goal in that match. Watch from 16 mins 7 secs in below video
I sat with Len Badger,god bless him, at a lot of matches and every time he talked about his goal thst day it became from further out .
Brilliant game,probably still in my top 5 of all time!
Up to that day, the highest number of goals I saw us score was 5 against Blackburn and Cardiff in March and April 1971 also I had never seen a Blade score a hat trick. I had not expected us to score as many as 7 in a first division match.
I seem to recall that Ipswich looked dangerous in the early stages of the match and still remember ex-Blade Mick Hill miskicking a shot inside the penalty box at the Lane End.
Then came the 4 goals from the 9th minute to half time
Geoff Salmons then set off a solo run on the left before being brought down inside the penalty box, a definite penalty , it was. Woody then sent Sivell the wrong way with the penalty.
Just before half time Len Badger blasted a shot about 35 yards away on the right, Sivell seemed to have the shot covered, he seemed to try to push the ball over the bar but helped it to inside the top of the net. 4-0!
I remembered watching all the 7 goals on YTV highlights in the next day. For years I hadnt realised that YTV televised the 1st half in colour (I had B & W tv at the time) and the 2nd half in black and white. I was very disappointed that the YTV video of our goals between 1968 and 1981 (produced in 1993) didnt include any of the 7 goals of the Ipswich match. I wrote to YTV asking for their reasons of the exclusion. They wrote back explaining that they thought the picture quality of the match wasnt good enough to be in the video so they didnt include any of the 7 goals. Then I remembered a Saints and Greavsie programme a few years earlier showing Woody's 3rd and 4th goal in that match. Watch from 16 mins 7 secs in below video
You beat me to seeing Utd scoring 7, as I was playing local football on Saturday afternoons at the time. Had to settle for the TV highlights, and then wait until the Northampton match a decade later for my first 7. No problem seeing hat-tricks, though, with Pace and Russell in the late 50s/early60s.
dont think len could believe he had put that one in from 35 yards think it was pretty central as well dont know what he was doing there lol great goal though
Would Woody's hat-trick (well hat-trick +1) against Ipswich be the last one in a league match from a United player for nearly 10 years?
As a kid I started going to games with my dad from about 1975 on wards. At the time I'm sure none of our players got a hat-tick until Edwards in the fourth division but I do remember my dad mentioning Woody's 4 goals v Ipswich.
Would Woody's hat-trick (well hat-trick +1) against Ipswich be the last one in a league match from a United player for nearly 10 years?
As a kid I started going to games with my dad from about 1975 on wards. At the time I'm sure none of our players got a hat-tick until Edwards in the fourth division but I do remember my dad mentioning Woody's 4 goals v Ipswich.
My dad and I travelled to London in Branson's coach organised by the SUSC (Dronfield Branch). We walked to where the coach was parked by the old Post Office (where Men Zone barbers is now), as soon as I got in the coach it was smoke filled which made me gasp for breath and I quickly got out of the coach for a breather. Luckily there were less smoke in the coach when we departed and it wasnt too bad all the way to London. A friendly chap who I do not remember meeting before looked at me and said "Hello Peter!" and it was Roger Beresford who is the youngest of the three Beresford brothers who I always got on well with over the years in the away coach trips in the next few years. Whenever I bump to Roger over the years at Bramall Lane we would greet each other and have a chat. He came to my dad's funeral in 1999.
I think the coach parked near Victoria station for the fans to catch the train to Selhurst. Dont think many Blades fans knew that Norwood Junction was the nearest station to Selhurst Park and it was the Blades only 2nd league fixture at the ground in history. I dont remember the long walk to the ground (maybe we caught the bus?).
My dad and I were sat in the West stand opposite where the tv cameras were. Not long before the kick off my dad spotted Tony Mercer sitting a few rows in front of us , pointed him out to me and asked me to get his autograph. I went over to him and he cheerfully signed my programme despite that I didnt know who he was. On coming back to my dad, I asked "Who's he?". "Tony Mercer from the Black and White Minstrel Show" was the reply. No surprise I didnt recognise Tony! Tony wrote the foreword in the Blades "50 seasons in the 1st division" souvenir that were published during the 1967-68 season.
Over the years I didnt really remember that we wore gold shirts in the match until I saw a photo of Bill Dearden challenging John Jackson in one of Barry Hugman's PFA footballers Who's Who
I dont think I took much notice that Palace had signed John Hughes and Willie Wallace from Celtic in October. I did see John Hughes play for Celtic at Ayr in August but I dont think I really knew much of him but he was brilliant on my first visit to Selhurst Park, the best display I had seen by an opposition player at the time and he scored two wonder goals. His popular nickname was "Yogi" and I read recently that he didnt have a good relationship with Jock Stein, the Celtic manager.
I was never expecting that I would see us concede by more than three goals for the first time. We were 3 down by half time! The first goal scored by Tony Taylor was after a quick free kick was taken, taking advantage of our defenders lacking concentration and having a moan at the ref's decision to give a free kick to Palace.
The second goal was sheer brilliance solo run by Hughes after flicking the ball over Len Badger leaving him for dead on the left wing and firing in a fierce left footed angle shot past John Hope.
The third goal looked a soft shot by Gerry Queen and some near me thought it was an own goal by Eddie Colquhoun which caused Hope having to change direction in stopping the deflected shot but he was too late to stop it. Later on watching MOTD that evening we realised that it was Badger who scored the own goal.
There was a strange incident soon after that, on the left wing, Willie Wallace tripped over what looked like to be an object on the pitch, he picked the object up and furiously threw it off the pitch. Ron Capey , the ref, awarded a free kick to Palace and booked Colquhoun who understandably got into despair about it.
Then in the 2nd half Hughes scored another wonder goal which won the MOTD goal of the month and it came 2nd in the goal of the season. He received a short free kick near the centre circle and it seemed he was going nowhere useful but he fired an unstoppable shot to the top of the net.
Bill Dearden reduced the arrears heading in a cross by Gil Reece which I dont remember much over the years.
The 5th was scorer by John McCormick who went through our midfield easily before firing in a shot past Hope.
When I got back into the coach after catching the train back to Victoria, there were a lot of glum faces and hardly anyone was in the mood to have a good conversation. I remember Roger saying to me "What had gone wrong with United?"
We arrived home in time to watch it all over again on MOTD. Understandably the commentators and whoever presenter the programme that evening were drooling over Hughes! Sadly Hughes didnt play many games for Palace due to an injury and some at Palace have accused Celtic of taking a big fee despite knowing that Hughes has injury problems. He joined his brother Billy at Sunderland in 1973 but played only 15 minutes for them and then never played pro football again.
Not sure if all of you can see all the goals in the link below
A month earlier Wolves won an UEFA Cup match thanks to three own goals (link below)
And then a month later Wolves were leading at half time after Eddie Colquhoun had scored 2 own goals. Not sure how many own goals in total they had that season!
Eddie's own goals were the only moments I remember about the 1st half.
TC pulled a goal back after a Woody's corner resulted in a scramble around the goalmouth.
Then later on we equalised with a Woody penalty.
That's all I can remember about the match! I can remember at the end of the MOTD programme that evening the 1st division table showing us in 7th position and I had this sinking feeling!
Scores, scorers and line ups on the day are in the below link.
Up to that day, the highest number of goals I saw us score was 5 against Blackburn and Cardiff in March and April 1971 also I had never seen a Blade score a hat trick. I had not expected us to score as many as 7 in a first division match.
I seem to recall that Ipswich looked dangerous in the early stages of the match and still remember ex-Blade Mick Hill miskicking a shot inside the penalty box at the Lane End.
Then came the 4 goals from the 9th minute to half time
Geoff Salmons then set off a solo run on the left before being brought down inside the penalty box, a definite penalty , it was. Woody then sent Sivell the wrong way with the penalty.
Just before half time Len Badger blasted a shot about 35 yards away on the right, Sivell seemed to have the shot covered, he seemed to try to push the ball over the bar but helped it to inside the top of the net. 4-0!
I remembered watching all the 7 goals on YTV highlights in the next day. For years I hadnt realised that YTV televised the 1st half in colour (I had B & W tv at the time) and the 2nd half in black and white. I was very disappointed that the YTV video of our goals between 1968 and 1981 (produced in 1993) didnt include any of the 7 goals of the Ipswich match. I wrote to YTV asking for their reasons of the exclusion. They wrote back explaining that they thought the picture quality of the match wasnt good enough to be in the video so they didnt include any of the 7 goals. Then I remembered a Saints and Greavsie programme a few years earlier showing Woody's 3rd and 4th goal in that match. Watch from 16 mins 7 secs in below video
I hadnt realised until I read the reports this week that Ian MacKenzie returned to league action for the first time since his league debut at home to Millwall in March 1970. Interesting that Martin O'Neill and future Blade Paul Richardson were in Forest's line up that day and not forgetting keeper Jim Barron who was Steve Thompson's assistant in the last few months of the 1997-98 season.
1st half action
Neil Martin put Forest ahead after our defence were caught napping by a through ball from Ian Storey-Moore.
For 70 minutes we found it hard to break through the Forest defence until the ref awarded us an indirect free kick (it was quite common then if an attacking player was fouled in the box) inside the penalty area instead of a penalty which is the norm nowadays. The crowd thought the trip on Dearden should have been a penalty for us. Forest formed a wall in front of Barron
TC rolled the free kick to Woody whose fierce ground shot pierced the Forest wall and Barron had no chance of stopping it. Our joyful players ran to congratulate Woody who calmly walked back towards the Kop and accepted handshakes.
Soon after TC scored a beauty from outside the box hitting a powerful shot after a low cross from the left. It was almost as good as his goal against Liverpool 2 months earlier.
It was good to see us climb back to 5th place in the league as you can see in the below link that has scores, scorers and line ups on that day. I Do not remember the two disallowed goals near the end. One by TC and one by Storey-Moore
Me and my dad travelled in the Branson coach for the trip to Newcastle along with Dronfield and Unstone based Blades. I remember we stopped off in a pub near Newcastle for lunch and a pint. Sat across my table in the pub was Nip Hague who was just about to finish his fag. He got my attention and told me to watch him. To my shock he then used his tongue to lift the cigarette stub (that was still lit) to the back of his throat and then swallowed it by supping his pint. He then opened his mouth to show me that the fag had disappeared! Not a cool thing to do!
All week I was expecting John Tudor to be in Newcastle's line up but he was at Bramall Lane that day playing in the reserves match.
My dad and I were stood below the West Stand. After 21 seconds looking to my left, Stewart Scullion had scored with a header. Nowadays it remains the earliest in a game I have seen us score. For years I didnt know the club's record for the earliest goal in a game until I read years later that Ronnie Simpson had scored after 8 seconds at Burnley in October 1963.
Early in the 2nd half TC coolly put us 2 up from inside the box. Late in the game Terry Hibbitt pulled a goal back for Newcastle.
The attendance was nearly 53K and I was almost crushed when the spectators were making for the exit gate after the match and it wasnt a nice experience that left me shaking for a while and my dad realised we should have allowed the crowd to go before we exited rather than rushing to get back in the coach. Even now I would regularly wait for the crowd to exit before I feel it safe to leave the ground.
I think it is the only time since the 1909/10 season that we in the top 4 of the first division going into the New Year.
See below link for scores, scorers, line ups also the league table (you can see us in 4th place}
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