BRISTOL ROVERS V STOCKPORT COUNTY

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DES HINKS CONTINUES THE STORY OF THE FA CUP RUN

ROUND 3 FEATURED WHAT HAS BEEN DESCRIBED AS THE “GREATEST EVER MATCH AT EDGELEY PARK”

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With victory over Wigan Athletic in the 1st Round and Grimsby Town, (the flying high in Division 3) in the 2nd Round the draw for the 3rd Round provided a trip to Eastville, home of Bristol Rovers, then top of Division 3, and 47 places above the Hatters who were still marooned at the bottom of the League. Once again the bookies would have given long odds on County progressing ….

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Des Hinks takes up the story:

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County’s ‘reward’ for their emotional victory over Grimsby Town was a third-round tie at Bristol Rovers who, by then, had taken over from Grimsby at the top of Division Three!

The club were quickly at work selling their allocation of stand tickets at 8/6 and 7/6, (42.5p and 37.5p respectively). The mass of travelling support was not forgotten with the advice that there would be ample room for those wishing to stand on the terraces, admission being 5/- for the paddock and 4/- for the ground, (25p and 20p). A special train at the price of 30/- (£1.50) would leave from Edgeley Station at 9.15am.

The County fans certainly responded. Although Rovers were red-hot favourites the home team were stunned when they emerged from the tunnel to hear the vociferous cry of, ‘when the Whites go marching in’ echoing around Eastville.

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Thousands of County fans, complete with black & white banners, flags, scarves and trumpets had made the long journey, and they were in no mood to go home undefeated!

And those magnificent fans were rewarded, once again, as the Lilywhites upset the formbook by battling tenaciously for a goalless draw. At times they might have snatched the win, Frank Beaumont and Ian Sandiford both came close in the final stages, but the lasting memory was the players giving every ounce of energy to stay in the Cup.

At the end of the game hundreds of County fans celebrated the performance that earned a replay by chairing Trevor Porteous shoulder high off the Eastville pitch.

A delighted Porteous, said.

“County played it ever so well. We made the forwards shoot from ridiculous situations, and, behind us, Kenny Mulhearn was absolutely brilliant. Ken has only been with us for a few weeks after signing on a free transfer from Everton and for a lad who is just 18 he gave a quite magnificent performance.”

The happy County fans travelling home from the West Country could never have imagined that the most emotional, atmospheric and action-packed game Edgeley Park has ever seen was little more than 48 hours away!

As was the tradition before television took centre stage, the FA Cup draw took place on a Monday lunchtime, and the Cup fever that had already stricken the town took on epidemic proportions when County, or Bristol Rovers, were paired with Bill Shankly’s Liverpool, the current Football League champions, in their own Anfield fortress.

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The Hatters’ replay was also on the Monday – before the days of police insistence of ten-days’ notice to stage a game – and County, bottom of Division Four, don’t forget, were hoping for a crowd of up to 15,000. Expectations were way out, though, as more than 20,000 packed into Edgeley Park to witness what, for many, was the greatest game ever staged at the ground.

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Two goals in a minute on the half hour, from Derek Hodgkinson and Frank Beaumont, seemed to set County on their way. But Rovers hit back after the break and silenced Edgeley Park when two long-range efforts, from Ray Mabbutt and then Bobby Jones, levelled the scores.

Suddenly, County looked to be running out of steam and the Third Division title-chasers sensed victory.

Reporting for the Daily Express, Derek Hodgson takes up the story:

“With 15 minutes left Ian Sandiford missed another chance and Stockport hearts were sick. Rovers were looking even more menacing as the minutes ticked away, and Liverpool seemed as far away as San Francisco.

“Weary captain Trevor Porteous signalled his line-up again. Rovers backed off warily, massing in their area. Then, 86 minutes gone, and County got a free kick.

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“Ean Cuthbert floated the ball over, goalkeeper Hall leaped, but there was Sandiford’s dark head nodding the ball over a despairing defender in the goalmouth.

“If Denis Law ever wins the European Cup with a goal at Old Trafford he’ll not get a greater reception than this. The whole ground erupted. Fans poured on to the pitch, and referee Maurice Fussey had to walk off the field before play could be restarted.

“And when the final whistle went, Porteous and little Derek Hodgkinson were both chaired off as the whole park was flooded with fans.

“Stockport County may not have the best team, but their fans … FANTASTICO!”

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Hodgson wasn’t the only hard-nosed hack moved by the sheer emotion that night. The Daily Mirror’s Derek Wallis wrote: 

“They clambered on the roof-tops, they scaled the floodlight pylons, they burst the barrier behind the goal and they stormed the pitch in their thousands at the end when County forced a last-gasp winner in last night’s FA Cup Third Round replay.

 “I cannot recall such hysteria, such dramatic scenes on a football field since Everton won promotion to the First Division, at Oldham, many years ago.”

The Mail’s Frank Clough was also caught up in the atmosphere. He wrote:

“Two thousand youngsters flooded the Stockport arena in a frightening frenzy of near-hysteria last night to carry off their Cup heroes shoulder-high in triumph.

“It was a fantastic, awesome scene. But a warm and wonderful tribute to County who had plucked this third-round replay from the precipice of extra time with a winner just four minutes from the end.

“It was bedlam, it was pandemonium. There’s never been a night quite like it at Edgeley Park.”

Writing in the Manchester Evening News Eric Thornton described the moments after Mr Fussey had blown the final whistle: 

“Trevor Porteous, County’s hero and five-star player, went under for a while, then suddenly reappeared, shoulder high and was carried off in triumph.

“Later, with shining eyes, he simply said: ‘Everybody was magnificent … magnificent … magnificent.’ And so they were.”

Certainly, the atmosphere that night will live long in the memory of everyone present. Speaking several years later, Porteous remembered the night vividly. 

“The atmosphere was absolutely fantastic,” he recalled.

“It was at a time when the Cheadle End started to gather its momentum and gain its reputation for bouncing and singing and making an enormous amount of noise.

“I can remember them stamping their feet, and it just gathered and gathered and gathered. There was a danger of course, simply because it was a wooden floor, but they really, really created a marvellous atmosphere and without any doubt, it inspired the players.

“We had big crowds before but they never created the same sort of atmosphere as the old Cheadle Enders. Against Rovers they were fantastic.”

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