BACK IN THE DIM AND DISTANT

[MickD]

Sadly my powers of recall are, these days, a little disappointing. They say with age comes wisdom, but what is the point of all this wisdom when its tucked away in some dark cerebral corner emerging but briefly, usually at the most inconvenient moment. 30 seconds later and I have forgotten what it was that I had remembered!

But, as usual, I digress. At the weekend there was no bigger Third Round Proper shock than that handed out by Cambridge United at a capacity St James’s Park. One almost felt sorry for the Magpies, but almost remains the operative word – they will bounce back, their coffers rejuvenated by the odd Arab billion. How many memories, I wonder, have been unlocked in the minds of Canary fans – not of Newcastle, but of our couple of games in the First Round of the FA Cup against Cambridge back in 1974?

To put things into perspective – that season Cambridge were in the old Fourth Division (finishing 6th as it happens) whilst Hitchin were half way up the Isthmian League. Derby County were winning Division 1, Swansea City had to apply for re-election to the Football League and Man United were in the 2nd Division.

To arrive at that point we had beaten both Dunstable Town and Barnet after draws away from home. The former of those games, which might actually pre-date Pipeman’s tenure at Creasy Park, saw the one and only Barry Fry in charge of the Blues and featured one half of the famous duo recruited by Barry for the publicity it drew more than anything else. So whilst George Best didn’t grace us with his presence, the West Brom legend Jeff Astle did play at No 9. Not a great game, I recall, which involved certain high jinks amongst our following support involving yours’s truly being thrown over the pitch side rail behind the goal. No damage done – just dented pride. Jon Padfield has something to answer for there.

But moving on to Cambridge – when the draw was announced there was both excitement (the prospect of a Football League scalp) and fear in equal proportion. Cambridge, back then, had a reputation of bringing with them a crew of troublemakers and essentially there was concern that our resources would be stretched to say the least. Given the proximity of Cambridge there were bound to be a good number of fans visiting. This was in the days when clubs at our level had no stewards as such – we just relied upon a couple of bobbies and they were more involved in traffic control than riot control. That said the force decided to be proactive and United’s hoards disgorging at Hitchin Railway Station were marched down to the ground by the Boys in Blue. What happened at the game I cannot recall but I believe it all went Ok and it was sighs of relief all round when the crowds had all dispersed. The game was goal-less but what an attendance - a crowd of 4223!

The replay was an anti-climax from our point of view since we lost three nil and our wait to beat League opposition was still 20 years away.
The Hitchin team back then was: Doug Parkin, Dave Webb, John Kettleborough Maurice Howkins, Roger Grant, Gordon Armstrong, Tony Brothers, Neil Bunker, Howard Kettleborough, Peter Watson, Paul Giggle and Dave Archibald (sub).

So come on all you aged readers, share those memories before they get filed away, never to see the light of day again.

[DarrenW]

Obviously well before my time but can add my late Grandad's word's which differ slightly from your's Mick.

He intended to go to the game with his 3 daughters but saw Cambridge fans causing trouble in town and took the decision there was going to be trouble at the ground so didn't attend.

Good posting though enjoyed reading it. I can remember the Hereford games and Bristol Rovers like yesterday just wish i'd been a bit older to appreciate the magnitude of what we achieved in those games.

[MickD]

As I said Darren my recollections are unreliable in the extreme, so accept them as being about trustworthy as Boris Johnson swearing on the Bible.

[anthony.brown]

From the Sunday Mirror 24 Nov 1974:
Two people were taken to hospital and police had to intervene as fans ran riot during Hitchin's 0-0 draw with Cambridge United. Hitchin were generally on top and piled on the pressure right from the start going close to scoring when Kettleborough headed just wide in the third minute.

[MJCANARY11]

As I remember it’s the only game at Hitchin that I’ve been to where police dogs were used.
Some of the fencing was also damaged.

[Brian]

I was at the game as a ten year old.

I have to be honest I can remember nothing of the actual game on the pitch.

I have one overriding memory of the day which was stopping Cambridge United Manager, Ron Atkinson, in his sheepskin coat, very Malcolm Allisonesque, in the corner of the Fishponds Road end where it meets Bedford Road, to get his autograph as he made his way to the main stand.

I remember him being the big attraction and everybody wanting his autograph (no selfie's in those days).
A check of Wikipedia shows he was appointed Cambridge United Manager the day before the first tie with Hitchin which is why I'm guessing he was so in demand.

Interesting looking at the Hitchin team as my favourite player from that period was playing, tall centre forward Howard Kettleborough. Scored some great headers in his short career with the club.