Mugged on the line

It happened to three Northern League teams, memorably on Saturday, November 14, 1959, when Shildon came up against Division Four Oldham Athletic.

When their 1st Round tie at Dean Street went into the last minute with Shildon 1-0 ahead after a Gary Bell goal, Bill Spurdle, an FA Cup finalist with Manchester City in 1955, broke Shildon hearts when he headed the equaliser, with incensed Shildon players protesting that Spurdle had knocked the ball into the net with his fist. Sadly for Shildon, the goal stood.

More famously, on Saturday, February 18, 1978, Blyth Spartans were 1-0 ahead at Wrexham’s Racecourse Ground in a 5th Round tie after a Terry Johnson goal had given them the lead on 11 minutes.

The game had gone into injury time when referee Alf Grey, probably under terrific pressure from the home fans and home players gave Wrexham a corner, when later, Match of the Day cameras clearly showed that Wrexham’s Bobby Shinton had the last touch on the ball before it crossed the line.

The corner was punched out by Blyth keeper Clarke for another corner. This second kick was held by the Blyth keeper, but a gust of Welsh wind had blown the corner flag over.

Grey ordered another retake and from the third kick Dixie McNeill fired in an equaliser. It was really cruel luck, and one must question the referee’s decision and wonder how Blyth, the defending side, held any advantage because the corner flag was not in an upright position.

Blyth went on to lose the replay 2-1 at St James’ Park, Newcastle, and therefore missed what would have been the greatest game in the club’s history – a 6th Round meeting at home to the mighty Arsenal.

The way Blyth had been playing, who would have bet against them.

The third mugging late in the game came four years later, and 35 years ago, when Bishop Auckland travelled to Third Division Carlisle United on Saturday, January 2, 1982, for a 2nd Round tie. The match had been scheduled for Saturday, December 12, 1981, but because of the weather had been postponed six times.

A downpour before the game on the already sodden Brunton Park, left the pitch with a lot of water standing on it, but referee Ken Walmsley gave the game the go-ahead. Conditions were so bad that one of the first decisions the captain winning the toss had to make was whether to defend the shallow end or the deep end in the first half. It was ludicrous – if the long ball was used, the ball either stopped dead in the water or skidded away, but on they played.

Bishop Auckland made a real fist of it and deep into the second half the score was still 0-0.

Phil Owers, the Auckland keeper, recalls: “You could tell that the Carlisle players, who included former Sunderland men Brian ‘Pop’ Robson and Bob Lee, were not looking forward to a replay at Bishop Auckland because they started to continually moan to the referee about the conditions, which were no worse than when the game started.

“Whether the ref took any notice of them we will never know but with only 20 minutes to play he abandoned the game. It was a terrible decision.”

Bishop Auckland manager Brian Newton said that he felt cheated and rightly so. The replay which was supposed to take place at Carlisle the following Monday evening was called off and eventually took place the following Saturday at Workington, but this time it was frost, not water, that put the game in doubt.

The Bishop Auckland party bought special frost boots to play in. Despite Owers and the whole Bishop Auckland team playing a blinder, the Two Blues were mugged on the line once again when Lee headed the only goal of the game from a Paul Haig free-kick with only 11 minutes to play.