A Moment in Time: Huddersfield Town v. Norwich City

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A Moment In Time, FA Cup, Huddersfield Town, Norwich C

Norwich City 1-1 Huddersfield Town, January 10th 1987.

First Division Norwich City hosted struggling Division Town outfit Huddersfield Town in the  FA Cup in 1987, in what was one of the Third Round’s more uneven fixtures.

The Canaries were flying high in the top flight at the time sitting sixth after 24 games and with a formidable record at Carrow Road, having lost just once at home all season. They had even enjoyed a 1-0 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford over Christmas, though there was no little anger from East Anglian supporters about a festive period that saw them travel to both Manchester and Sheffield in the space of a few days.

By contrast, the West Yorkshire side’s form on their travels was abject – Mick Buxton had been relieved of his post just before Christmas and it was Boxing Day before then caretaker manager Steve Smith led his side to their first away win of the campaign in his first game in charge.

With a Manchester derby on the same day, not to mention Fourth Division Aldershot knocking out top tier Oxford United, it was perhaps inevitable that East Anglia was not hosting the match of the round on the foggy January afternoon, but 11,254 did turn up – no doubt most expecting to enjoy a home win. The two sides had faced each other as recently as the previous season as Norwich, under Ken Brown, stormed to the Second Division title.

Brown put out a strong side against Huddersfield despite his side’s expected superiority, leaving only forward Robert Rosario out in favour of David Hodgson. This meant there was still no place for ex-Ipswich man Trevor Putney who was struggling to make his mark in Norfolk after joining in the summer, with injury not helping his cause.

Supporters had on Putney’s back, to the extent that his name was booed when it was read out on the tannoy, leading to an appeal by Steve Bruce for supporters to get behind their former rival. While his stint at Carrow Road wasn’t the most productive of his career, Putney stuck around for another two seasons after this, so Bruce’s words must have hit some somewhere.

Steve Smith also made only one change to his expected line up as well, with David Cork coming in in midfield in place of Paul Raynor. This meant in-form Duncan Shearer starter up front, looking to add to the ten goals he had scored in his last 12 games, including a stunning four in a 5-2 thrashing of local rivals and fellow strugglers Bradford City.

The man from Fort William was to make his mark on this tie, as well, opening the scoring during the second half to give Huddersfield a shock lead. With an upset on the cards, he had an opportunity for a second as time ran out, taking the ball round a prone Bryan Gunn only to stumble before he was able to convert what would surely have been a decisive chance.

As it was Kevin Drinkell still had time to settle matters, a top class run and finish in the 89^th minute ensuring City came away with a squeaked draw and that both sides went into the hat for the fourth round.

What Happened Next?

Immediately afterwards, the country was struck by a torrent of snow and gripped by ice as one of the coldest winters in living memory all but cancelled football for the next couple of weeks, but when it did resume, the two sides faced off again at Leeds Road.

With the victors of the replay drawn against third tier Wigan in the next round, Norwich showed their strength and emerged as 4-2 victors. Unfortunately, any hopes of making it a memorable cup run were dashed at frozen Springfield Park as the unprepared Canaries fell to a 1-0 defeat. (You can see that game here)

Huddersfield rallied after the draw, winning three of their next six league games before drawing a club record six in a row throughout March and April. The steady accumulation of points saw the Terriers climb to safety, with little indication of the humiliation that was to follow the next campaign.

Norwich, meanwhile, went on to finish a then club-record 5^th in the First Division, missing out on the chance of doing even better by virtue of their home record dropping off in the second part of the season. Entering this cup tie, Norwich had won seven of their twelve league games, but they were to triumph just twice more at Carrow Road, drawing six of the remaining nine.

This tendency to draw games not only affected this cup tie, but had become apparent during the Christmas period – wins against Manchester United and Nottingham Forest being complemented by draws at Sheffield Wednesday and more disappointingly, at home to struggling Charlton Athletic.

Biggest name from the game?

Bryan Gunn is still fondly remembered in Norwich, but the influence Steve Bruce was to have as a player and manager means he is probably the biggest name on the teamsheet of either side. Indeed, he went on to manage Huddersfield in what was the closest they have been to returning to the top flight since before this fixture in 1987.

 

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Cup Final Creep?

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Boat Race, Cricket, FA Cup, Trends In Football

I noticed a post from the excellent TheFootballPink this morning regarding the lateness of this season’s FA Cup Final – indeed this afternoon’s, on May 30th, is the joint latest in the year the final has ever been held – Chelsea’s 2009 victory over Everton being the other, but it is an indisputable point.

So I thought I’d have a look at whether or not it has crept forward and when that trend started.

That, in and of itself is fairly conclusive. Pretty much since the cup final began, it has been getting later and later in the year; the spread of football is not just geographical but also chronological – more and more football is played, and for longer, too.

Yet football isn’t the only sport that has been expanding its boundaries since the late 1800s. Here’s that same graph but representing the date of the first day of England’s first test of the summer.

Cricket, then, has been taking itself the other way. I’m sure you can see where this is going, but while I was looking through the dates of the cup finals themselves I noticed that in a couple of instances, the final was on the same day as the varsity Boat Race. Indeed, when West Brom shocked Preston North End in 1888, Preston partly laid the blame on the fact that they’d been watching the Boat Race in the morning.

So I thought I’d factor in the date of the Boat Race, too. Here, then, is that graph – Boat Race v FA Cup Final v First (Home) Test.

The FA Cup Final has clearly worked its way back later into the year, while the first test has edged towards it. The Boat Race(s) are remaining fairly consistent, but there’s a slight suggestion of going a little bit further back.

Sport is dominating the calendar and, where you could previously enjoy them all, they’re frequently running into one another.

Yeovil T 0-2 Manchester Utd; 1501MR02

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FA Cup, Manchester United, Match Reports, MRSeries, Yeovil Town

Seeing the Manchester side flash up during the previous game, the opportunity to see James Wilson play again was tempting. Added that to James Berrett being on the bench for Yeovil, it was on.

So, what happened? A typical blood and thunder cup tie this one; the Glovers were upon the Red Devils from the off, pressing hard and looking to stop them playing as well as they could.

Blood and thunder almost literally in the cases of Kieffer Moore and Paddy McNair whose early clash of heads left both needing bandages.

That Yeovil’s plan succeeded so successfully was perhaps no surprise. He may have struggled this season, but Gary Johnson has not become a bad manager overnight. He has drilled them well and they all knew their rôles. That they were aided by Moore being fit was obvious, though I would have preferred to see Ajay Leitch-Smith.

And so it went on. United stumbling and stuttering while Yeovil dealt with their attack and launched sporadic attacks of their own, though the best chance came to Moore and was scuffed – a precursor to the only moment of real quality all match.

Ander Herrera scoring against Yeovil (Reuters)

A Darren Fletcher ball was deflected into the path of Ander Herrera just outside the box, who stroked a shot at goal like he was stroking a family cat. It followed a similar trajectory before nestling in the back of the net.

That, pretty much, was that. The Red Devils were good enough to suffocate the match from there. They got a late second, Angel Di Maria breaking into so much space that it looked as if he’d missed the bus home and had Somerset to himself. He slotted the ball home and it ended 0-2.

Yeovil had huffed and puffed but eventually Big Bad United blew their house down. No romance here.

Entertainment value? 6.0/10 – more interesting than exciting, but none the worse for it.