Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of our FA Cup adventure...
IT’S the 40th Anniversary of one of the most memorable FA Cup runs in the club’s history and at Saturday's home game against Port Vale, the Former Players Association will be bringing together members of that team.The likes of Mick Kearns, Alan Birch, Colin Harrison, Nick Atthey, Stan Bennett, Roger Fry, George Andrews, Mick Touhy and Bob Parsons will be with us to reminisce with supporters iand go on the pitch at half-time.
Our 1974/75 FA Cup adventure began at non-League Ashford where two goals from Alan Buckley and a Roger Fry strike saw us avoid a potential banana skin.
We were on the road again in round two as we made the trip to Newport and came home with another 3-1 success as the late Brian Taylor, Bernie Wright and Buckley bagged our goals.
The reward was a trip to Old Trafford to take on Manchester United in January 1975 and after a goalless draw in front of a crowd of almost 44,000, we brought them back to Fellows Park where, under the floodlights, we enjoyed a memorable night.
In what was a dramatic encounter, in true FA Cup style, we battled out a 3-2 victory after extra-time with Bernie Wright and another Buckley brace giving us a home tie with Newcastle United in the next round.
With a reported 19,908 packed inside Fellows Park, George Andrews grabbed the all-important goal as we pulled off another Cup giant-killing act.
Our run finally came to an end at the fifth round stage when we succumbed 2-1 at St. Andrews against neighbours Birmingham City.
It was a brave display by The Saddlers in front of another crowd of almost 44,000 as we played in the fifth round of the competition for only the second time in our history.