I’VE BEEN WAITING 68 YEARS FOR THIS!
Fulham fan Roy was there when Jimmy Hill & Co lost a Cup classic to the Toon
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BY
IAN MURTAGH
LIFELONG Fulham fan Roy Searle has been waiting almost 70 years for his club to exact FA Cup revenge on Newcastle.
Searle was at Craven Cottage in 1956 when the two sides fought out one of the greatest games in Cup history.
The Cottagers, who included Bobby
Robson and Johnny
Haynes in their line-up, trailed 3-0 inside half an hour.
But they fought back to 3-3 with a hat-trick from Tosh Chamberlain and then took the lead through Jimmy Hill.
Hopes of an astonishing comeback win were dashed when Mapgies forward Vic Keeble scored twice in the last quarter of an hour to seal a 5-4 away win.
But the result was mired in controversy with the burly Keeble shoulder-barging Fulham keeper Ian Black into the back of the net for the equaliser. Searle, now a sprightly 80-year-old, living in Hurst, Berkshire, still recalls the game as if it were yesterday.
And he still bristles at that Toon goal being allowed to stand.
“It was a wonderful Cup tie, one of the best ever seen at the Cottage,” said Searle (below).
“The only one that compares was the famous 4-1 over Juventus in the Europa League which gave us a 5-4 aggregate win.
“But we were given the runaround early on. Jackie Milburn and Bob Stokoe were both on the scoresheet and at one stage, it looked like they’d run up a cricket score.
“But it all went a bit mad in the second half. Chamberlain had reduced the deficit just before the break and then had another goal ruled out despite the referee initially giving it.
“We were well on top by now and scored three in quick succession. There were almost 40,000 inside the ground and no one could quite believe what they were witnessing.
“But then came possibly the most controversial goal I’ve ever seen.
“Newcastle winger Bobby
Mitchell crossed the ball right underneath the bar and our keeper caught it – but as he was coming down, Keeble just bundled him into the back of the net.
“The crowd went potty when the goal was given and there was disbelief when Keeble scored the winner a few minutes later with a diving header.
“I was 12 at the time and had been going to games with my dad since 1949 but hadn’t seen anything like it.” Newcastle were
the holders having won the FA Cup three times in the previous five years – but they would bow out to bitter rivals Sunderland in the quarter-finals.
Magpies historian Paul Joannou claims the nine-goal thriller on the banks of the Thames remains arguably the Toon’s greatest Cup win.
He said: “Newcastle were the most feared Cup team in the land back then and that game was arguably the best of the lot.
“There is only one that really compares and it came just 12 months later when we won 5-4 at Manchester City in a fifth round replay having been three down.
“Those two Cup ties were remarkably similar but fortunately Newcastle won both.”
Searle is a season-ticket holder these days and will be watching from the new Riverside Stand this weekend for the first FA Cup game at Craven Cottage between the two sides since that day.
He added: “I was sitting with my son when the draw was made and within seconds of the two clubs being paired, I told him all about that 1956 tie.
“We certainly owe Newcastle one after what happened all those years ago.”