The Watney Cup Round 1, 1st August 1970…
Reading 2-3 Manchester United
Having completed my first year at Teacher Training College at Bulmershe, Reading, studying P.E., I had seen Reading FC’s fortunes change also. When I arrived there in late 1969, the first match I saw was a 2-3 defeat to Walsall, a club from my neck of the woods but after that, the Biscuitmen or Royals, whichever nickname one prefers, enjoyed a turnaround of fortunes and had Malcolm MacDonald not scored a belligerent late winner for Luton at Elm Park towards the close of the season, Reading might just have been promoted instead of the Hatters.
So because Reading had smacked in a huge number of goals during that season, they, like seven other top goalscoring teams in other divisions were invited to take part in the Watney Cup in pre-season, 1970-71. They were drawn against Manchester United, who fielded Alex Stepney, Pat Crerand, Willie Morgan, Dennis Law, Bobby Charlton, Brian Kidd and George Best on that summer’s afternoon. This tournament was the first ever to be sponsored…
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| AN 8-0 THRASHING OF SOUTHPORT MEANT A WATNEY CUP SLOT FOR READING... |
I was still on my summer break on that date back in Birmingham but I made my way down to Reading by train to see the team which possessed goalkeepers Death and Pratt (surely a firm of undertakers?) take on a star-studded visiting outfit. Steve Death, who had played once for West Ham United, was not a tall ‘keeper but had good reactions, whilst John Pratt was by all accounts a local schoolteacher… Death would play the remainder of his career at Reading, amassing 471 games.
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| DEATH PLUNGES TO GRAB A CHARLTON CROSS IN FRONT OF KIDD... |
I wrote after the game that the sun blazed down upon a rich, green playing area and most spectators wore as little as they could get away with in the ‘Cup Final atmosphere’.
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| LAW, RETURNING FROM A KNEE INJURY, ENJOYS THE HOT READING WEATHER... |
Reading, I wrote, played some attractive football, engineered by the ‘brilliant’ Tony Wagstaff, with his brother Barrie playing in centre defence. Bobby Williams was also creative and only Stepney’s fine save prevented the latter from ‘steering the Biscuitmen home’.
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| STEPNEY DEFLECTS A HABBIN SHOT... |
Death did make some marvellous saves too, although his kicking was ‘suspect at times’ and marred his performance, whilst United’s Stepney had been in fine form, ‘changing my opinion of him’ as a goalie… Death plunged about during the first-half, making some timely interceptions but his team pushed United back and it was Stepney who in truth kept Manchester in the tournament…
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| DEATH BLOCKS AT BEST'S FEET... |
However, the most memorable aspect of the encounter was that Reading’s right-back Wil(fred) Dixon, generally the unsung hero, took the sting out of Best, so that the Irish winger never really got going and he was overshadowed by Morgan, who was also given a rough ride by Reading’s Dennis M. Butler. Clearly, Dixon gained legendary status at Elm Park on that day for his exploits of marking Best closely and usually tackling the winger cleanly. He played 153 times for Reading and would later feature for nearby Aldershot too…
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| WIL DIXON, LEFT: A SUPERB MATCH AGAINST THE WIRY BEST... |
Butler was indeed ferocious in the tackle for the hosts and Terry Bell blossomed in attack alongside my favourite Reading player, Les Chappell, with Dick Habbin as the ‘centre-forward’. Bell was praised afterwards by United’s Crerand but incredibly at the end of that season, it was Bell’s late own goal at Villa Park which sent Reading crashing down to Division 4 and saved Walsall from the drop. He was released in 1973 after scoring 20 goals in 87 appearances for the Biscuitmen, before Aldershot snapped up the forward. He netted 49 times for the Shots in 124 appearances.
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| LES CHAPPELL... |
During the opening period, Stepney made fine saves to deny Chappell and Williams, as Manchester struggled against the eager Division 3 outfit. Typically, the team under pressure scored first, when defender Paul Edwards dived to head a long free-kick by Tony Dunne past an astonished Death. Clever play between Chappell and Gordon Cumming though, allowed Habbin to shoot and he applied a simple rebound equaliser after Stepney had saved his initial shot.
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| EDWARDS OPENS THE SCORING FOR UNITED... |
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| HABBIN REGAINS PARITY FOR READING... |
Charlton then scored, although he was perilously close to being flagged offside as Kidd freed him and the England player moved on to smack a rising drive past Death. The ‘keeper then erred twice in conceding goal three to United, for his weak kick fell to Charlton some 35 yards from goal and it appeared that Death thought that Charlton’s ensuing drive from downtown was going wide and he made no attempt to save the effort as it rushed into a corner of the net.
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| CHARLTON SMASHES IN UNITED'S SECOND GOAL... |
1-3 at the break, although United would have felt flattered by the scoreline but after the interval, Wagstaff and Williams combined, Chappell headed the ball down for Cumming to race onto and he beat Stepney from 6 yards. Ex-United player Nick Murphy joined the fray for Reading and he quickly brought a fine save from Stepney, before heading into the Manchester net, only to be flagged offside.
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| STEPNEY FOILS HABBIN AGAIN... |
Williams scorned a good late chance for the hosts and Stepney made a superb save from Chappell as time ebbed away but United held on, only managing two Law efforts, which were thwarted by Barrie Wagstaff and fellow defender Stuart Morgan. Law also had a strike cancelled out for offside during the second period.
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| CUMMING RAPS READING'S SECOND GOAL PAST STEPNEY... |
Derby County beat Manchester United 4-1 in the Final…
The Reading game had certainly been a memorable match for me and oddly, after Aston Villa had been relegated to Division 3 in 1969-70, I had looked forward to seeing them play at Elm Park… Yeah, you guessed it, the game was scheduled for the October half-term holiday… I travelled to the match on an Aston Villa Travellers’ Club coach but stayed in Reading to begin my studies again after the weekend…
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| HOW THE LOCAL NEWSPAPER'S CARTOONIST SAW THE MATCH... |
Villa won 3-5 in an extraordinary match, another to write about soon…
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