1971: Through The Fence, Alongside The Tracks & Hope The Match Ends On Time:
Shrewsbury Town 2-2 Halifax Town…
Home from college for Easter during my second year studying PE at Bulmershe in Reading, I saw my mate John Higgins at a poor, goalless Division 3 match between Aston Villa and Barnsley on Monday 12th April 1971. He told me he was going to Gay Meadow on the Wednesday to see Shrewsbury’s Division 3 battle with the Shaymen from Halifax Town. I decided to accompany him although neither of us drove cars at that time and it meant public transport from John’s house in Handsworth Wood…
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| WEMBLEY 1971: THE HAIRY JOHN HIGGINS, THEN MY DAD, A SNIPPET OF BRIAN KENSIT, MYSELF, FRANK GRIFFITHS & HIS SON STEVE... |
Villa were lying 5th in the league but weren’t to be promoted back to Division 2 at the first attempt, likely because of their League Cup exploits, reaching the Final and losing to a brace of Martin Chivers goals for Spurs at Wembley in March. Halifax were riding high though in third place, a point ahead of the fallen from grace Villa and with a game in hand. Shrewsbury were 16th, also with a game or two in hand and they would be looking to climb away from the depths. The reverse fixture had been a 2-0 win for Halifax…
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| DAVE ROBERTS, EX-VILLA... |
In fact, Shrewsbury had beaten Villa 2-1 on the previous Saturday, a match I had also witnessed, the winner being scored by ex-Villa winger Dave Roberts. The Shrews had won 0-1 at Port Vale on the Monday too, in a crowded Easter fixture list. Shrewsbury’s Manager Harry Gregg, the ex-Manchester United goalkeeper and a survivor of the infamous Munich air crash, was liking his team’s surge in form…
FRED TURNBULL NETTED VILLA'S GOAL AT GAY MEADOW, A RARE STRIKE FOR THE CENTRAL DEFENDER...
I lived on a Birmingham council estate in Shard End at that time, with my parents and so I had a two-bus journey to reach John’s house. First the 55, then the Outer Circle 11, which took me past Villa Park and towards Handsworth Wood. A mile of walking would get me to Bewlys Avenue…
John and I set out for Hamstead railway station, where we would catch a train into Birmingham’s New Street, then change to the Shrewsbury train, which would travel via Wolverhampton. There were no worries about this part of the trip, so much so that we drank a pint in the ‘Coal Hole’, a room in the Beaufort Arms pub before catching our first train.
On arrival at Gay Meadow we purchased seats in the Wing Stand, at 8/- (8 shillings, or, er, 40p…) and we witnessed a 2-2 draw, so one point apiece, which was not too much of a drawback for either club when one considers that a win was only rewarded with two points in those days…
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| THE ORIGINAL TICKET STUB... |
At the time, I hand-wrote a few notes about the encounter and I reckoned that it had been a reasonable game, although the home defence often struggled to contain a strong Halifax attack. However, home winger Alan Groves delivered several decent crosses and Ricky Moir wasted a 10 yard chance, following a run to the right byeline by Roberts.
ALAN GROVES HAD JOINED SHREWSBURY IN THE FEBRUARY OF 1971 & NETTED TWICE IN THIS MATCH...
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| HALIFAX'S GOALSCORERS WERE BILL ATKINS, 3RD FROM LEFT ON THE BACK ROW & DAVE LENNARD, FAR RIGHT, BACK ROW... |
Home ‘keeper Ken Mulhearn tipped one Halifax drive over his crossbar but much of the action took place in midfield, although Shrews’ striker George Andrews headed a smart goal which was disallowed because visiting goalie Alex Smith was adjudged to have been fouled.
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| SHREWSBURY MANAGER HARRY GREGG WEARS A SUIT & WINGER DAVE ROBERTS IS SEATED ON THE LEFT END OF THE SAME ROW... |
Bill Atkins (an ex-Villa youngster) opened the scoring for the guests when he drifted onto a long through-pass on the left and ran on to clip a low left footer past Mulhearn and into the net off the far upright for a well taken goal…
Groves scored the first of his brace to regain parity for the Shrews, moving forward on the right flank, exchanging passes with Gerry Bridgewood and then beating Smith at the near post with a crashing, low left-booted goal.
Halifax regained the lead when Dave Lennard chased a long, bouncing ball, Mulhearn hesitated and the forward beat the goalie aerially to nod the ball into an empty net.
Shrewsbury claimed a point when the visitors’ offside trap was breached and Groves stayed onside to receive a pass out on the left, as the Halifax defenders rushed out to spring their trap. Groves ran on, rounded Smith and shoved a low left foot shot which rolled into goal off the inside of the far stick.
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| THE OLD GAY MEADOW... |
However, this match wasn’t memorable for what happened on the pitch…
A RACE WAS TO START HERE TO REACH THE RAILWAY STATION...
It was the journey home which was quite unforgettable. Most games kicked off in midweek at 7.30pm in those days, with a 10 minute half-time break and in fact, it was rare that games finished much beyond 9.10. Only one substitute was allowed then, so added time was minimal and at the discretion of the referee.
On the Saturday, I had travelled to Shrewsbury and back on a coach from Villa Park but this time, the journey was to prove somewhat different…
The problem was that the most amenable train back to Birmingham left Shrewsbury at 9.12, leaving us just 2 minutes to get to the platform. John however had the timing of this return trip very much in hand from his experience of previous visits and we were ready to run as the official raised his whistle to his mouth to end the match. We had to rush across the car-park, through a hole in a fence and then across some railway tracks to reach the end of a platform. This was illegal of course…
As we exited the ground though, there was a police presence and we had to dash rather sneakily and stealthily onto the railway property. It was warm, we sprinted, we made it to the platform and somehow boarded the train…
I can see John now, perspiring and wiping the sweat from his brow in a railway carriage with a handkerchief as we attempted to catch our breaths. We exited at New Street, John caught his train home and I walked across Birmingham’s town centre to find a late 55 bus home…
This happened almost exactly 50 years ago.
Memorable though…
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