Posted by Claire on November 16, 2007, 9:29 am, in reply to "This Weekend ..."
Thanks Chris - great reading as ever!
Good luck to all the City teams this weekend,and in particular the City Ladies who KO at 2pm on Sunday against Utd to defend their County Cup winning status.
--Previous Message--
:
: November 17th
:
: NOW
:
: Matches between City and Slough Town have a
: long history and there were a number of
: close-fought games in both the F.A. Cup and
: the Amateur Cup in the years after the
: Second World War when the regionalised early
: rounds quite regularly pitted the sides
: against each other. League encounters
: didn’t begin until 1974 in Slough’s second
: season in the Isthmian League and the last
: Isthmian meetings were in 2002-3 after which
: the two clubs went their separate ways.
: Before today the two clubs last met in
: September 2005 when Slough, then in the
: Isthmian Premier, beat City 4-1 in the F.A.
: Cup – Ray Spence scoring for us.
:
: THEN
:
:
:
: On the corresponding weekend 39 years ago
: City had made it to the First Round Proper
: for the third year running after a fantastic
: 7-1 demolition of Romford in the final
: Qualifying Round and Swansea (not yet
: ‘Cityfied’) were the visitors. Coincidently
: Alfie Biggs had been Bristol Rovers’
: centre-forward in their FA Cup match at the
: White House in 1966. As in the previous two
: years City put up a great fight, as the
: local press reported under the headline
: “Penalty Tragedy – or how City were robbed
: of a replay” :
: “Was it a penalty? Still the argument
: rages over the 80th minute decision that
: broke City’s hearts and put Swansea through
: to the Second Round. It was a marginal
: decision which perhaps only five out of ten
: referees would give. It was not a
: deliberate foul and Gwyther certainly helped
: his cause with a dive in the best traditions
: of slapstick comedy. Even Swansea officials
: admitted that they were “...a bit
: fortunate”.
: City outmanoeuvred their rivals in two
: lengthy spells, matched them for the rest of
: the game and were deeply unlucky not to gain
: a replay. The first fifteen minutes
: belonged to the amateurs and the visitors
: were grateful to busy keeper Dilwyn John,
: but when Gwyther outstripped the defence to
: put the Swans in front on 20 minutes City’s
: hopes seemed in decline. And despite a
: glorious equaliser by Alan Pentecost fifteen
: minutes later City were no better placed at
: half-time after Gwyther headed his second
: eight minutes before the break.
: The amateurs set out in a storming mood
: after the change round and had the
: disappointingly low crowd of just over 5000
: on their toes. Jack Woodley’s crafty 55th
: minute equaliser set the game on fire and,
: had City got another goal in the sparkling
: twenty minutes that followed, I doubt
: Swansea would have been able to pick
: themselves up. But City’s great lack of cup
: luck over the years continued and the
: visitors held out until Thomas’ penalty
: decider.
: City lost in the end but did themselves and
: amateur football a power of good. They did
: their best – no one could ask for more.”
:
:
: Jack Woodley challenges the Swansea
: keeper
:
: The season had started very well for the 1st
: XI in the league and by October they had won
: six of their first eight games: a run that
: continued when the new floodlights were
: switched on on the 15th of the month to
: illuminate a very efficient 3-0 defeat of
: Woking.
: The FA Cup run, and also a good run in the
: Amateur Cup, caused the league progress to
: lose a little momentum, although the
: Reserves, in their first ever season in the
: Hellenic League, were going from strength to
: strength as the season progressed.
: In the Amateur Cup City edged out local
: rivals Wycombe Wanderers 3-2 to earn a tie
: at Cheshire League Skelmersdale United who
: had been Amateur Cup Runners-up two seasons
: previously. The cup match was a closely
: fought game on a ground with no seating
: (what would the FA make of that these days?)
: and a significant slope, but, having fallen
: behind, City fought back strongly in the
: second half and a Woodley goal with twenty
: minutes to go earned a replay. Several City
: players picked up injuries, though, and the
: team played below expectations the following
: week and bowed out of the competition 1-3.
: Both the 1st and Reserve XIs continued to
: perform strongly in the league though the
: 1st XI were shocked when, returning from a
: victory at Maidstone, coach Johnny Crichton
: decided he’d had enough of the lengthy ‘pub
: breaks’ on the returns to Oxford from away
: matches and phoned his resignation through
: to the committee - though on the Monday he
: did agree to continue until the end of the
: season.
: With only one league defeat all season the
: Reserves clinched the championship with a
: 3-0 victory over Hungerford at the end of
: April and went on to win the Division 1
: Knockout Cup with a 4-2 defeat of Rivet
: Sports at Thame at the start of May.
: The club won the Oxfordshire Senior Cup for
: the 21st time when they recovered from a 0-1
: deficit to beat Morris Motors 2-1 in a
: replay; but they lost the Smith Memorial
: Trophy to Banbury over two legs.
: John Shippey continued to represent his
: country and also signed as an amateur for
: Torquay United, who brought a strong side to
: the White House in early May: a 1-1 draw.
: Shippey toured New Zealand with an FA XI
: later in the year. Ken Oram played for an
: FA XI against Cambridge University, and
: Terry Jeakings, the County Youth captain who
: had made his City debut in mid-season, had
: trials with Wolves. The club provided ten
: of the eleven players for the county for two
: of their competitive matches: a record.
: Percy James suggested an Ex-Players’
: Association in March and, such was its
: success, that it organised its first ‘Buffet
: and Dance’ in July for its sixty members.
: In June Ron Humpston, who had been trainer
: to the Czech national team, and more
: recently manager of Moreton Town, was named
: as Johnny Crichton’s successor.
:
:
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