Four decades since St James’ lauded legends clad in green-and-white
THE NIGHT SPARTANS ALMOST PULLED OFF FAMOUS CUP VICTORY
ELEVEN heroes had battled and scrapped in the mud and the clarts at St James’ Park on a bitter February night in 1978.
Eleven heroes had left everything on the pitch and headed back to the changing rooms to a rapturous ovation from the 42,000 hardy souls that crammed into Gallowgate.
The reception was a token of the appreciation for the blood, sweat and tears that they had given to come within touching distance of FA Cup immortality
Eleven green-and-white heroes had written themselves into FA Cup folklore on a pitch where black-andwhite heroes were born.
Despite a brave defeat in the FA Cup fifth-round replay against Wrexham, the Blyth Spartans players left the St James’ Park pitch as legends.
Forty years on, goalkeeper Dave Clarke, defender and captain John Waterson, midfielder Keith Houghton and striker Alan Shoulder all returned to the scene of one of the most remarkable nights in North East football history. A night when supporters of a number of North East clubs got behind the Spartans, willing them on to take one more step into the history books. But how it could have been oh so different. Way back in the qualifying rounds, the Spartans successfully ran a gauntlet of Northern League clubs Shildon, Crook Town, Consett and Bishop Auckland. In the “proper” rounds, Ian Mutrie, Steve Jones and the newlyarrived Shoulder were the matchwinners in 1-0 wins over Burscough, Chesterfield and non-league giants Enfield.
Recently-relegated Division Two side Stoke City were next up in the fourth round.
A Terry Johnson brace and a goal from the late, great Steve Carney helped Spartans past a Stoke side containing the likes of Howard Kendall, Terry Conroy and Garth Crooks.
The run began to inspire national headlines and a number of remarkable side-stories, including prematch singing led by player-manager Brian Slane and legendary coach Jackie Marks.
And former Spartans boss Marks also made the headlines as he began a ritual of drinking speed oil before games, also known as “a small nip” of whisky.
“Speed oil started off as a laugh but ended up as a ritual,” said future Carlisle United midfielder Houghton.
“Jackie (Marks) went on to say he was the only one allowed to drink whisky, but I know I certainly didn’t spit mine out.”
A dream fifth-round tie against Newcastle was in the offing, only for the Magpies to fluff their lines in a replay against Wrexham.
So the Spartans travelled to Wales to play in a tie that would go down as a bitter-sweet moment in the club’s illustrious FA Cup history.
Not before legendary BBC commentator Barry Davies joined in with a pre-match sing-song and five-a-side game in the Racecourse Ground’s car park!
They were backed by “the sort of support that only the North East can produce” according to Davies and
they were rewarded with an early Johnson goal that put the Spartans ahead.
They looked set for a place in the last eight, only for fate – and a broken corner flag – to get in their way.
With time running out captain Waterson chased future Newcastle striker Bobby Shinton to a loose ball, with the ball rebounding out over the goal-line. “It wasn’t a corner,” said Waterson. “But that happens all of the time in football. Everyone thought that it wasn’t a corner except (referee) Alf Grey.
“That was bad enough but the resulting corners made the mistake even worse by letting them take it again and again before the goal.
Keeper Clarke takes over: “I punched the first corner, then caught the second one.
“The third one went over the top and Dixie McNeill scored. “It wasn’t even a clean header.” Due to police advice the replay was moved from Croft Park to St James’ Park, a move that delighted many of the Spartans players.
Shoulder explained: “This was more exciting than any other tie, to be coming to St James.’
“The draw down there felt like a defeat but we thought we could play in front of 20,000 here.”
However, the actual attendance was over double that prediction and it could have been more.
Clarke said: “There was actually 10,000 locked out so there was actually 50,000 come to the game.
“We were on the bus coming in after meeting at Blyth and we got stuck.
“The driver explained that it was people getting to the game, so the nerves kicked in then.” Those nerves weren’t helped when the sides walked out on to the St James’ Park pitch, a memory that has stuck with captain Waterson to this day. “Going out of that tunnel, leading us out, not expecting to see the place rammed full,” he explained. “That sticks in my mind, the roar when we stepped out, it was great.” Shoulder continued: “I played against Sunderland six times for Newcastle, that’s the big one really. “On New Year’s Day, 37,000 here – and 37,000 drunk Geordies can make a noise. “But it wasn’t anywhere near the noise that Blyth had that night here. It was deafening, they were vociferous. That will stay with me.” Things turned sour within the opening 20 minutes as a controversial penalty from Graham Whittle and a McNeill strike put the Dragons two goals ahead.
But the Spartans battled, roared on by the Gallowgate crowd, and Johnson gave them a lifeline with a typically clinical finish eight minutes from time.
The players were expecting an equaliser.
Houghton explained: “If we could have knocked another one in, we would have won it because we were running them ragged.
“It wasn’t a case of the professional team running the legs off the non-league team, it was the other way around.”
But the equaliser never came and emotional scenes followed the fulltime whistle.
Marks was reduced to tears, and he wasn’t the only one.
The dream may well have died on that night at Gallowgate, but those 11 heroes in green-and-white ensured that legends were born.
If we could have knocked another one in, we would have won it – we were running them ragged Keith Houghton