White Wolves and red Canaries fought a New Year Cup classic
EARLY 1971 was the time of a national postal strike that rendered my mom and dad almost penniless, but somehow the money was found to get me into every Wolves home game at a time when they were dependent upon food parcels from other family members.
Dark
The day after New Year’s Day was more dark and dank than cold and crisp, but the fact that it was FA Cup Round Three meant that expectation was high, if muted by the Ibrox disaster that had left 66 dead and over 200 injured.
Visitors Norwich City were pitched against Hughie Curran, a man whose £60,000 transfer two years earlier still represented the record fee paid to the East Anglians.
Penalty
Wearing white shirts in contrast to the red of the Canaries, Wolves were awarded a penalty after just six minutes when Clive Payne palmed over a Derek Dougan header. In those days he was able to remain on the field but Jim Mccalliog duly converted the resultant spot kick.
However, just two minutes later, ex-albion man Ken Foggo drew the Canaries level and established a parity that remained until after the half time interval. Roaring into the North Bank end in waves of attacking frenzy Wolves soon put the tie out of reach as almost 30,000 spectators roared them on.
After 47 minutes Ken Hibbitt dived athletically to head in a Mike Bailey cross, and just two minutes later the young number seven crashed a shot against the bar to allow Bobby Gould to head in on the rebound.
On the hour the Doog put Mccalliog in and although his shot beat Kevin Keelan, Gould was again the beneficiary of an assist via the woodwork.
The scoring was completed on 72 minutes when Mccalliog deflected
in a Bernard Shaw strike, but there was still time for Foggo to miss a penalty.
Having netted at Chelsea in September, Hibbitt became the first Wolves player to score on his league and FA Cup debut since Terry Wharton in November 1961 and January 1962 respectively.
Kenny was following in the footsteps of Jesse Pye, Johhny Hancocks and Micky Lill, and would score in the return match with the Londoners in February.
You can find footage of the game on Youtube.
Saturday 2nd January
Wolves 5 Norwich City 1 Attendance: 29,225
Scorers: Mccalliog (2, 1 penalty), Gould (2), Hibbitt.
Team:
Parkes;
Shaw,
Parkin, Bailey, Munro, Mcalle, Mccalliog, Hibbitt, Gould, Dougan, Wagstaffe. Substitute: Curran.