Nice one.
I remember that so it have been that match and my memory has failed me again
Just wish someone had photos of the pre match on the pitch entertainment against Villa! All these great memories which today would have been filmed on phones .The atmosphere of a packed terrace in full voice is sadly something missing today from the English game
Yeah, c'mon, get your act together 'BD'!
Bill Garner scored 4 , and King Billy Best scored against Villa .
Yes, it was Barnsley. JCR scored for us (IIRC), and they equalised right near the end. I think the only reason the game wasn't abandoned before that was because we were winning. Think we won the replay and went to Spurs in the 4th round.
It would most certainly be remiss of me in F.A. Cup week on what is the 50th. Anniversary of the 1968-69 season not to mention what turned out to be a couple of the most incredible F.A. Cup matches witnessed at Roots Hall. It is to this day my favourite ever season to have followed the team, though certainly not the best team we have ever had. It may have been an age thing as I was 18/19 at that time or the many friends I had made and shared it with. Along with my good friend and fellow hitch-hiker Mick (Ref Watch) and a few other hardy souls we had the priviledge (or not) of being at every single match that season. 46 league games+2 League Cup+4 F.A. Cup matches, not forgetting the four postponed matches at Rochdale & Scunthorpe United which were both postponed twice. (You could also include Friendlies & Essex Professional Cup ties). Below is part of the F.A. Cup 1st. round match report against Kings Lynn played on the 16th.November 1968 as reported by the late, great Alf Smirk. "GOAL-GLUT BIG BOOST TO BLUES' CUP HOPES" Southend United 9, Kings Lynn 0. The Slaughter of the innocents! That, to use a trite expression and with due respect to the opposition, just about sums up United's first round F.A. Cup victory at Roots Hall on Saturday, which took them beyond this stage for the first time in three seasons. Four goals in the first half and five in the second without any response from the visitors, tells its own story. In fact so great was Blues superiority it was only a galaxy of goals that would have served to satisfy the bulk of United fans in the crowd of 9,983 the fourth largest gate of the 40 ties. Nine goals against any opposition is not bad going. They still have to be chiselled out and banged in. Southend United's goal time-table tells it's own story: Two minutes: Chisnall intercepted a bad Lynn pass, pushed a beautiful square ball for Gary Moore to run on to and hammer in from the edge of the box past goalkeeper Coe. 26 minutes: Another Chisnall interception a low cross from the left and Billy Best cracked it home from four yards after his first effort had rebounded from the goalkeeper. 29 minutes: Clayton beat three men in a crossfield run before pinpointing a through ball to the left for Chisnall to hit it past Coe from a narrow angle. 39 minutes: Chico Hamilton slung over a long centre from the right and Lynn full-back Tony Haskins trying to head it for a corner headed it past his own keeper. 62 minutes: After Southend had forced three corners and Moore had had a goal disallowed for hand-ball Best was on the spot to flick in a Hamilton pass after Chisnall had started the move. 72 minutes: Best again on the spot to nudge the ball in Hamilton after he had started the move himself. 80 minutes: Moore used his weight to bundle the ball in after John Kurila had headed on a Hamilton corner. 81 minutes: A mi**** clearance went straight to Chisnall on the edge of the penalty area and his shot hardly left the ground as it found it's way inside the post. 89 minutes: Tony Bentley made another of his many overlapping runs on the right and pinpointed his centre for Gary Moore to outjump a set of defenders and nod neatly into the net. Congratulations to the entire United team for an all-out display which should do wonders for the moral of themselves and their supporters and particularly to Gary Moore on his three goal Cup debut for United. All those people who have been hollering for a big 'un for years are now going to say "I told you so" and I must say he is proving them right up to now. Praise too for Billy Best now beginning to buzz at his busiest for his three goals. It certainly is a long time since we had so much to crow about!!! "GREAT MEMORIES FROM 50 YEARS AGO SEEMS LIKE ONLY YESTERDAY"
Nothing to do with the FA Cup, but it's the 50th anniversary of the first match I ever attended, later this month. It was a league game against Bradford City, sandwiched between the famous 1st and 2nd Round cup matches that season.
Great memories
