MATCH 6: ALDERSHOT 3-1 HUDDERSFIELD TOWN, THE FA CUP ROUND 3 REPLAY UPSET, JANUARY 1970...

 Aldershot v Huddersfield Town, FA Cup Round 3 Replay, January 1970…

The first term at Bulmershe College in Reading ended with me having no room-mate; he had moved in with his girlfriend but after Christmas, I was to live in lodgings for two terms. A student of French, Charlie Watts, who was not the drummer of Rolling Stones fame, and I were placed with Miss Herbert, a retired headmistress from Wokingham. She owned nine mindless cats. Food was sparse, although not for the cats. She would suffer a heart-attack during the ensuing weeks, eventually leading to a change of lodgings for Charlie and me in the ‘new town’ of Bracknell. 

Charlie’s legendary catchphrase was “Cheers, boys!”, which sounded like: “Cheerth, boyth!” and I still use that phrase today. During our first evening, Miss Herbert called upstairs: 

“Peter, do you like bacon?” “Yes…” I replied. 

Then she added, “Do you like beans?” 

I retorted, “Er, yes…” 

Finally she called out: “Do you like tomatoes?” 

I hesitated, puzzled, but yelled: “Yes, Miss Herbert…” 

She then hailed Charlie: “Peter wants bacon, beans and tomato. Is that all right for you?” Charlie called: “Yes, Miss Herbert!” 

When the food came, World War Two rationing had reared its ugly head again. 

Charlie was my mate because he was more involved with the P.E. guys than the French students but he was a Swindon Town fan and was sometimes prone to singing: “Donald, Donald Rogers, Donald Rogers on the wi-ing, Donald, Don….etc…” So sad. I had seen Villa draw 1-1 with Charlton in the FA Cup 3rd Round on the Saturday and my father had driven me and my belongings to Berkshire on the Sunday. On my first full day in Wokingham, a Monday, sixth in Division 4 Aldershot were due to play an FA Cup replay against Huddersfield, who were top of Division 2 at the time, following a stunning 1-1 draw at Leeds Road on the Saturday. Frank Worthington would spearhead The Terriers’ attack and we simply had to go and see the match, which seemed to us marginally better than spending the whole evening at The Rifle Volunteer, a Wokingham pub of little interest, but even that would have been vastly more pleasurable than a night in with Miss Herbert’s cats. 

Replays were quickly arranged in those days and Villa’s replay was held at The Valley on the same evening. It was meant to be a walkover at Aldershot for the Yorkshiremen and I suggested thumbing lifts to the Recreation Ground. Now thumbing from Wokingham to Aldershot wasn’t easy in those days because of sixteen miles of road which did eventually go from A to reach B but actually via F. We made it rather easily however, becoming part of a crowd of 14,332 packed into The Rec’ and Charlie and I soon squeezed into the covered end of the ground with the hard core of vociferous Shots fans. What we witnessed was memorable. 

I was impressed that Aldershot’s chairman was called Caesar and two of his directors were Barefoot and Hooker, all names you simply couldn’t invent, surely? Shots’ striker Dennis Brown, whose Chelsea debut had been a goalscoring one against Manchester United as a youngster but who was now playing with one plastic knee-cap, following a car accident, partnered the prolific Jack Howarth in attack. Jack was a tall centre-forward who headed the ball a lot, taking three or four strides before jumping and he won a good deal of ball aerially throughout two periods of time in his Aldershot career, scoring 171 times. Ex-Celtic youngster Peter Gowans hugged the touchline on the left and the single substitute, Tony Priscott eventually became a Christian Minister.

The Terriers included a ‘keeper I liked, Terry Poole, forward Colin Dobson, ex-Sheffield Wednesday, even Trevor Cherry, who would go on to star at Leeds and play for England, plus the enigmatic Worthington. Huddersfield would have a fine season and began the replay strongly. The hosts, in an electric atmosphere, conceded a 15th minute goal, when the ex-Manchester United and Leeds player, Irishman Jimmy Nicholson took a free-kick and Worthington moved in front of Shots’ goalie Tony Godfrey to convert from close range. 

BIG Jack Howarth...

Steve Smith then rattled the Aldershot crossbar, before the Shots began to compete, with Gowans and Howarth firing a header and a shot too high. However, the night would belong to Shots’ balding player-manager Jimmy Melia, who had scored 76 goals for Liverpool early in his career and had won two England caps, scoring a goal for his country too. He prompted his troops, ‘The Soldiers’ into making some exciting moves, which belied the team’s lowly standing. 

JIMMY MELIA: GLABROUS AT THE BACK (LACKING HAIR...)

I was totally swept up in the excitement as he capitalised upon a poor 20 yard back-pass by Nicholson to goalie Terry Poole, who made a hash of collecting the ball, allowing Melia to nip in, take possession and run on alone. He stopped on the goal-line though, turned round, looked at the referee and only then stroked the ball deep into the Huddersfield net. He reckoned afterwards that he was simply thinking: “I wish I had one like that every match!” The fact was though, that the crowd had become eerily hushed as Melia ran on, perhaps wondering about an infringement, or maybe they were just stunned into disbelief. The official signalled a goal and the crowd went crazy, the noise became deafening and infectious and Charlie suddenly couldn’t even remember who Don Rogers was, or who he played for any longer.

MELIA WALKS THE BALL INTO THE NET FOR 1-1...

The pandemonium was exciting and haunting and much of Aldershot’s passing was accurate, even the odd back-heel and flick was successful but then, moments after the interval, Shots’ dangerous winger Gowans made a quick rush from the left flank, fed Brown inside, who turned on his plastic knee and returned a pass for his winger, who fired the hosts into a 2-1 lead from 18 yards, with a low drive into the right corner of the net, right in front of Charlie and me. Children ran onto the pitch, Charlie and I were leaping up and down, joining in with the almost plaintive but certainly voluminous chants of “Come on Soldiers, come on Soldiers, come on Soldiers…”

PETER GOWANS SMACKS THE SHOTS 2-1 AHEAD...

Ten minutes later, Ray Mielczarek handled as Gowans fought his way through the heavy ground conditions and Aldershot were awarded a penalty. Melia stepped up, sent Poole falling left and struck a low right-footer into the opposite corner of the net. Oddly, Huddersfield were forced back time and again, with Brown, Howarth and Ronnie Walton all going close but Howarth drew applause with a superb drive from the right side, only for Poole to draw admiration with a magnificent diving save to touch the ball over his crossbar. One-twos, odd back-heels and quick passes embarrassed the Terriers, but only because, astonishingly, they often came off and the visitors were eventually muscled out of the FA Cup, earning Aldershot a tie at Carlisle, which they drew 2-2, although they lost the home replay 1-4 in front of a record attendance of 19,138... 

MELIA CONVERTS HIS PENALTY...

Charlie and I were joyous, leaving me with a lasting soft spot for both teams. We battled our way out of the Rec’ and were lucky to pick up a lift back to Wokingham almost immediately and we were in a local Wokingham pub by 10.15pm, a rare pleasure for us in the town, for shortly after a month in Miss Herbert’s quaint and furry surroundings, she became very ill. Charlie and I were immediately moved into Easthampstead Park women’s teacher training college and were placed in staff bedrooms with en-suite sitting rooms for a fortnight. 

EASTHAMPSTEAD PARK COLLEGE...

You just couldn’t make that up, either...