Conroy’s extra-special winner fired Stoke into FA Cup semis
PHIL SHERWIN RECALLS A GREAT MATCH FOR STOKE AS TERRY CONROY SCORED A CUP REPLAY WINNER AGAINST MAN UNITED. THE ARTICLE WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN 2011
MARCH 1972 was undoubtedly the best ever month in Stoke City’s long history. As well as winning the League Cup, they also reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup by beating arguably the most famous club of them all.
Stoke had already beaten United in cup combat that season, taking three games to knock them out of the League Cup.
The first game in the FA Cup run at Old Trafford had ended 1-1, Jimmy Greenhoff giving the Potters the lead only for George Best to equalise.
The replay attracted the biggest attendance seen at the Victoria Groundround for more than 10 years, over 49,000, with many locked outside.
Stewart Jump came in at left-back for Stoke as Mike Pejic was suspended.
The game was played at a hectic pace and both sides went close. Terry Conroy beat three defenders in a mazy run before stabbing the ball wide and Denis Smith forced Alex Stepney to scramble the ball around the post.
John Ritchie blazed a 25-yard shot just over and John Marsh then headed a Brian Kidd effort off the line as United hit back.
The deadlock was broken in the 70th minute and it was the Red Devils who scored it.
Bobby Charlton, United’s best player on the night, began a move down the left and played the ball up to Denis Law.
His flick into the middle saw the Stoke defence fatally hesitate and George Best nipped in to clip the ball past an exposed Gordon Banks.
Four minutes later, though, Stoke were level. A curling corner-kick by George Eastham flicked off a defender’s head and Denis Smith was there to drive the ball home in a game he shouldn’t really have played in due to injury.
Alan Gowling hit the top of the bar with a header, but time ran out and the game went to extra-time.
Banks tipped over a typical thunderbolt from Charlton but Stoke then picked up a second wind.
Twelve minutes into the extra period, the ground exploded as they took the lead.
Jump swung a high ball into the box and Tony Dunne, under pressure from Greenhoff, only half headed the ball away.
Terry Conroy breasted the ball down and then hit a stunning half volley past Stepney in the visitor’s goal.
Eastham and Greenhoff both came close to a third goal, and Kidd had United’s last chance, saved by Gordon Banks.
Stoke remained United’s bogey team and then faced an FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal for the second year in succession.
Steve Royals, a supporter of the club for over 41 years, recalls the game very well.
He says: “What struck me was the sheer magnitude of the game.
I walked down Whieldon Road before the game and the masses of people were mind blowing for a young lad like me.
“In those days there were no tickets, it was just queue up and pay and the queues for the Boothen End went right across the car parks and into the streets on the other side.
“The FA Cup was such a huge competition and it appeared that so many fans wanted to see us play one of the most famous clubs of all time, although they looked a bit different in white shirts.
“I went with my father, my next door neighbour and my brother Mick, who was actually a Vale fan and still is. We went in the Butler
Street Paddock and I sat on a wall just in front of the disabled section.
“The Stoke End looked ready to burst. We were a bit down when we went a goal behind, the Boothen
End was silent apart from a pocket of United fans, segregation not being what it is today.
“Denis Smith got the equaliser though and we all went berserk when
Conroy got the winner.
“Around that time, it appeared as if we could do no wrong. Let’s hope we can get back to those times again soon!”
Denis Smith was the scorer of the first goal. He remembered: “I really had no chance of playing in the game at all. I could not walk freely on the morning of the match and resigned myself to just watching it from the stands.
“I got two tickets for my wife and myself and went home. I then had steak and chips for tea, something I would never have as a pre match meal!
“The crowds were so large that I had to park my car in the middle of Stoke and had difficulty getting out of it. All of a sudden something clicked and it began to feel a bit easier.
“I only got to the ground at 6.50pm and the boss, Tony Waddington, asked me how I felt. Not too bad I said and he told me to run around the dressing room.
“I said I felt okay to play, even though it felt sore, but two pain killing injections later, I was out on the pitch! I even managed to score with my right foot!”
Local boy Denis joined Stoke City as soon as he left school in 1964 and he went on to make 493 senior appearances, the sixth highest of all time for the club, scoring 41 goals before leaving for York City in 1982.
He later managed York, Sunderland, Bristol City, Oxford, West Brom and Wrexham but always remained a Stoke fan.
Nowadays he watches most of their home games and works for the Premier League, the FA Disciplinary panel, the League Managers’ Association and is involved with the Stoke City Old Boys Association.
■ STOKE: Banks, Marsh, Jump, Bernard, Smith, Bloor, Conroy, Greenhoff, Ritchie, Dobing, Eastham. Sub: Skeels.
■ MAN UNITED: Stepney, Buchan, Dunne, James, O’neil, Morgan, Best, Charlton, Gowling, Kidd, Law. Sub: Mcilroy.
■ Attendance: 49,192