Page 65 - 368603 LP250721 AWY AWY AWY Book (238pp A5)

all waved and tooted at each other. It was only 70p to get in and we were standing on the terraces at the Penistone Road End. It was packed and just before kick-off some fighting kicked-off right behind us. A small group of Arsenal lads had been identified in the sea of Sunderland fans and some of them got a good beating before they escaped. A large lemonade bottle hit one of them on the eyelid and the blood flowed. It was awful to see the fear on their faces.
In his press interviews Stokoe had acted impeccably, continuing to be calmly optimistic and not rising to any bait. The team we had that day (Montgomery, Malone, Guthrie, Horswill, Watson, Pitt, Kerr, Hughes, Halom, Porterfield, Tueart) was unchanged from the Luton game and had been gelling well in the league too. It was a bit difficult to see the game at times because of the number of banners in front of us but I got a good view of our first goal in the 18th minute. Expensive new centre-half Jeff Blockley made a real pig’s arse of getting the ball back to his goalie Bob Wilson and Vic Halom nipped in to slot it home. Our end went berserk.
Sunderland weren’t phased by the star-studded Arsenal side, most of whom had been in the double-winning side of two years before, and we went further ahead mid-way through the second half with a great Billy Hughes back- header from the edge of the penalty-box. Charlie George grabbed one back just before the end and it was a real nail- biter till that whistle finally blew. So, that was it – we were back in the F.A. Cup Final for the first time since 1937.
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