1967-68 (Part five)

Posted by Tony Hutton


SATURDAY 20TH JANUARY, 1968

LEAGUE DIVISION FOUR AT SALTERGATE, CHESTERFIELD

CHESTERFIELD 2 (Hollett, Curry) BARNSLEY 3 (Evans 2,1 pen, Howard)

Roberts; Holmes, Sears; Phelan, Neale, Hughes;
Moore, Hollett, Curry, Kettleborough, Wilson;

Ironside; Brookes, Murphy; Bettany, Howard, Graham;
Earnshaw, Evans, Robson, Taylor, Hamstead;

Referee:- A.W.S. Jones, Ormskirk.

This was certainly an all action game from start to finish, but one incident stands out in my memory which very few people saw (certainly not the referee or either linesman).

As play went down the other end of the field one of the Chesterfield forwards, looked round carefully to see that no one was watching and turned to punch a Barnsley defender in the pit of the stomach.
The Barnsley player went down poleaxed while the Chesterfield man nonchalantly made his way back into his own half. It was some time before the referee stopped play for the trainer to come on and certainly the perpetrator got away with it completely.


SATURDAY 10TH FEBRUARY, 1968

LEAGUE DIVISION ONE AT BRAMALL LANE, SHEFFIELD

SHEFFIELD UNITED 1 (Addison) WEST BROMWICH ALBION 1 (Astle)



SATURDAY 17TH FEBRUARY, 1968

DERBYSHIRE CUP AT CAUSEWAY LANE, MATLOCK

MATLOCK TOWN 0 ALFRETON TOWN 2 (Harrison, Lakin)



MONDAY 26TH FEBRUARY, 1968

LEAGUE DIVISION ONE AT BRAMALL LANE, SHEFFIELD

SHEFFIELD UNITED 3 (Wagstaff, Currie, Reece) SPURS 2 (Greaves, Chivers)

Hodgkinson; Badger, Shaw; Munks, Mallender, Wagstaff (B);
Woodward, Carlin, Addison, Currie, Reece;

Jennings; Kinnear, Knowles; Mujllery, England, Mackay;
Greaves, Beal, Chivers, Venables, Jones;

Referee:- D.A. Corbett, Essington

 

SATURDAY 23RD MARCH, 1968

LEAGUE DIVISION ONE AT HILLSBOROUGH, SHEFFIELD

SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 1 (Ford) LIVERPOOL 2 (Hunt, Arrowsmith)

Springett; Smith, Megson; Young, Mobley, Eustace;
Fantham, McCalliog, Ritchie, Whitham, Woodall; sub Ford for Woodall.

Lawrence; Lawlor, Hughes; Ross, Yeats, Strong;
Callaghan, Hunt, St. John, Arrowsmith, Thompson; sub Graham.

Referee:- E.T. Jennings, Stourbridge

Wednesday looked to have turned the corner last week with away wins at both Stoke and Wolverhampton but remain rooted in mid table after today's home defeat to Liverpool who are challenging both Manchester clubs and Leeds at the top of the table.


SATURDAY 6TH APRIL, 1968

LEAGUE DIVISION ONE AT HILLSBOROUGH, SHEFFIELD

SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 2 (Ritchie, Fantham) CHELSEA 2 (Hollins, Baldwin)

Springett; Smith, Megson; Young, Mobley, Eustace;
Wall, McCalliog, Ritchie, Ford, Fantham; sub Woodall.

Bonetti; Harris R., McCreadie; Hollins, Webb, Hinton;
Cooke, Baldwin, Osgood, Birchenall, Tambling;

Wednesday were desperately seeking their first home win since 16th December when they beat West Ham 4-1. Since then they have lost four and drawn two home matches. At first it looked as if another loss was on the way as Chelsea went two goals up before half time through Hollins after twelve minutes and Baldwin after twenty eight.

Things did change for the better in the second half with a good headed goal from John Ritchie with only twenty minutes left and right at the death John Fantham equalised to give Wednesday a welcome point. The home side gave a first game to 18 year old Adrian Wall, from Clowne in Derbyshire, due to injuries to Whitham, Usher and Woodall.


SATURDAY 13TH APRIL, 1968

LEAGUE DIVISION ONE AT BRAMALL LANE, SHEFFIELD

SHEFFIELD UNITED 0 EVERTON 1 (Ball)




TUESDAY 16TH APRIL, 1968

LEAGUE DIVISION ONE AT HILLSBOROUGH, SHEFFIELD

SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 0 EVERTON 0                 Attendance 24,766

Springett; Smith, Megson; Young, Mobley, Eustace;
Fantham, McCalliog, Ritchie, Ford, Woodall;

West; Wright, D'Arcy; Kendall, Labone, Kenyon;
Young, Owen, Royle, Hurst, Morrissey; sub Brown.

Referee:- J.W. Clarke, Studley

A month after this game took place, I watched with interest the European Cup semi-final second leg between Real Madrid and Manchester United on TV. Before the season had started it was announced that the European Cup Final would take place at Wembley. Without of course knowing who would reach the final I applied for two tickets from the Wembley box office. As it turned out of course Manchester United reached the final and I could have sold my tickets for much above face value. However I was there to witness the memorable match, which I will cover in my next blog.

The first leg of the semi final was played at Old Trafford on the 24th April 1968, with United winning a close game 1-0. The only goal was scored by George Best, but most people thought this would not be enough to face Real Madrid away in the second leg.

In front of a crowd of 125,000 at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, on the 15th May, 1968, Real Madrid had a 3-1 lead at half time and most people watching at home thought that United's hopes were over. However in a dramatic second half David Sadler and defender Bill Foulkes scored vital goals to level the scores on the night and enabled United to progress with a 4-3 aggregate win.