31 Years Ago

[davef]

With the focus understandably on the 30th anniversary of our win over Coventry, it was great to see the tweet from Middlesbro' regarding our 1-1 draw with then in the 3rd round the year previously.  That cup run had seen us record our first ever win over Football League opposition (3-0 v Aldershot) followed by a great win at Peterborough. In the 3rd Round replay at Ayresome Park, as their tweet indicates, we came within a hair's breadth of a 4th round tie at Everton after Nigel Golley's header hit the crossbar in the final seconds of normal time.  The U's were magnificent that night against a strong home side (if I remember correctly:- Pallister, Slaven, Kerr, Mowbray, Ripley et al) and the team received a standing ovation from the home crowd after they had squeezed home 1-0 with a goal in extra-time.

[Andy K]

Jan 9, 2019 8:57:57 GMT davef said:

With the focus understandably on the 30th anniversary of our win over Coventry, it was great to see the tweet from Middlesbro' regarding our 1-1 draw with then in the 3rd round the year previously.  That cup run had seen us record our first ever win over Football League opposition (3-0 v Aldershot) followed by a great win at Peterborough. In the 3rd Round replay at Ayresome Park, as their tweet indicates, we came within a hair's breadth of a 4th round tie at Everton after Nigel Golley's header hit the crossbar in the final seconds of normal time.  The U's were magnificent that night against a strong home side (if I remember correctly:- Pallister, Slaven, Kerr, Mowbray, Ripley et al) and the team received a standing ovation from the home crowd after they had squeezed home 1-0 with a goal in extra-time.

Remember it well - worthwhile adding that not only was this the run that saw us beat league opposition for the first time, but we'd got to the third round having battled through from the first qualifying round (in an era when previous cup performance still dictated which round you came in at). Wins at Wivenhoe, home to Redhill, an away replay win at Bromley and at home to Basingstoke set us up for that home tie against Aldershot. Although the Coventry game trumps pretty much most of our FA Cup performances, our 9 games in the competition that season I think were the most we'd played in a season with a side who I still rate as one of the strongest ever in my time watching Sutton.

And if I remember rightly for the boro game, we were the first ball drawn out of the bag too!

[tonyd]

For me, the best moment came just after the game. We’d had extra time then we were kept in the ground until the home supporters had left, so it was pretty late when we got back to the coaches. As we were waiting for the police to escort us out of town in convoy, skipper Tony Rains appeared on the coach, still only half changed, to thank us all for coming and to apologise for not getting the win.

This is a special club.

[jr]

It was quite a remarkable performance from a brilliant team.

The supporters coaches arrived at Ayresome Park with a typical Middlesbrough welcome of having things thrown at the coach, being spat at and generally being threatened. After the match those same supporters couldn't stop applauding us. Plucky little Sutton. Thank God we had Coventry so soon after although I'm still gutted we didn't get to go to Goodison.

I'd forgotten about Tony Rains coming into all the coaches to say thank you. A touch of class.

[Andy K]

Oh how I love the internet

[davef]

After the game Bruce Rioch saw me looking at the photos on a corridor wall and gave me a guided tour of the stadium, along with Phil Dawson and Curly.

[billy]

Middlesbrough

First game........Pears Laws Cooper Mowbray Parkinson Pallister Slaven Gill Hamilton Kerr Ripley

Replay.....Poole Glover Cooper Mowbray Parkinson Pallister Slaven Kernaghan Hamilton (Laws) Kerr (Gill) Burke

[markf]

Watching that footage, anyone not liking our 3G should have no doubt as to why we opted to go down that route.

[sol]

Jan 9, 2019 10:12:07 GMT Andy K said:

Oh how I love the internet

Thank you for putting that up ANDY.

Great to see Brian Moore and The Big Match and I have to slightly disagree with the MOTM - for me it was Micky Stephens.

His delivery of the ball from the free-kick which led to the goal, from corner kicks and his superb cross from the right onto Lenny’s head were top class and a real threat all afternoon.

What a legend Micky Stephens is.

[oohaah]

Jan 9, 2019 10:07:24 GMT jr said:

It was quite a remarkable performance from a brilliant team.

The supporters coaches arrived at Ayresome Park with a typical Middlesbrough welcome of having things thrown at the coach, being spat at and generally being threatened. After the match those same supporters couldn't stop applauding us. Plucky little Sutton. Thank God we had Coventry so soon after although I'm still gutted we didn't get to go to Goodison.

I'd forgotten about Tony Rains coming into all the coaches to say thank you. A touch of class.

I don't remember any problems with us arriving at Ayresome, but I do remember Trevor Roffey being felled by a coin during the warm up. I also remember the skipper entering the coach, and a tearful little lad stuck his head through the door and sad 'My dad says we'll never hear from you again!' - He must have been even more upset 1 year later!
Does anyone remember the police escort away from the ground? We stopped after a short way and were diverted into a field with police land rovers all over the place, with the blue lights so bright you couldn't see anything. I was really quite concerned at the time with thoughts of police brutality, but we started off again bumping across this field, through another gate and straight onto the motorway. A glance to the right showed another 3 police vehicles blocking all three lanes, and we were away back down south.

[os]

Some more from that cup run of 87/88