FA Cup Preview

21 February 2007

F A CUP 5TH ROUND REPLAY:

WEST BROMWICH ALBION v MIDDLESBROUGH

Our only previous home F A Cup tie against MIDDLESBROUGH was on Saturday 26th January 1929 in the 4th Round. Both sides were in the old 2nd Division in 1928-29. Albion were destined to finish 7th, nine points behind Boro who, with George Camsell top-scoring on 30 goals, were promoted as Champions. In the 3rd Round we had met the 2nd Division runners-up Grimsby Town and after a 1-1 draw had won the home replay 2-0. The Teesiders had beaten 3rd Division South club Walsall 5-1 in a 3rd Round replay, but at The Hawthorns in front of a crowd of 33,466 they failed to find the net. Albion won 1-0 thanks to a goal from our own goal-poacher Jimmy Cookson. In the next round we thrashed Bradford, another 2nd Division promotion contender, 6-0, with Cookson netting four times. First Division Huddersfield Town attracted 52,333 to The Hawthorns for the quarter-final, but we could only draw 1-1 and lost the replay 2-1.

F A CUP 6TH ROUND DRAW:

Middlesbrough or WEST BROMWICH ALBION v Manchester United or Reading

Should we win our 5th Round Replay the draw guarantees a home tie, either against the current Premiership leaders Manchester United or its most in-form team, 6th placed Reading.

We?ve met MANCHESTER UNITED three times in the F A Cup and each time it has taken a replay to decide the winner, the Baggies coming out on top in two of the three ties. In 1938-39, 2nd Division Albion were drawn at home to 1st Division United in the 3rd Round and drew 0-0. The replay, on the following Wednesday afternoon, attracted only 17,641 to Old Trafford. Remarkably, Albion won 5-1, with two goals from Harry Jones and three others from Duggie Witcomb, Ike Clarke and W G Richardson. In the next round we lost 2-0 away to the eventual winners Portsmouth. Albion finished 4th in the 1st Division in 1957-58 and having beaten Manchester City 5-1, Nottingham Forest 5-1 (in an away replay with ten men) and Sheffield United 4-1 (another replay, ten men again) in the earlier rounds, were one of the favourites to win the Cup. They played United at home in the Quarter-final in front of 57,574, less than a month after the Munich air-disaster had decimated the Busby Babes. A pulsating game finished 2-2, with goals from Ronnie Allen and Roy Horobin, who equalised two minutes from the finish. On a tide of emotion United won the replay 1-0 with a goal thirty seconds from time and reached the Final, where they lost to Bolton Wanderers. The most recent F A Cup clashes were in 1977-78 in the 4th Round. Albion, who finished 5th in the 1st Division, went to Old Trafford and gained a heroic 1-1 draw, thanks to a goal from Willie Johnson. In the Hawthorns replay Joe Jordan put John Wile out of the game with his elbow, but this couldn?t prevent a famous 3-2 Baggies victory in extra-time, with two goals from Cyrille Regis and another from Tony Brown. In subsequent rounds we won 3-2 at Derby County and beat favourites Nottingham Forest 2-0 at home, before losing 3-1 in a Highbury semi-final to the underdogs yet eventual winners Ipswich Town.

We?ve only met READING twice in the F A Cup and both times we were drawn at home to them in the 3rd Round. In 1947-48, Albion were to finish 7th in the 2nd Division and Reading mid-table in 3rd Division South. The tie went to form with the Baggies winning 2-0, Roy Finch and George Drury scoring in front of 30,241 spectators. The only notable fact, from a Baggies point of view, from our 3-1 defeat in the 4th Round away to fellow 2nd Division side Tottenham Hotspur was the crowd, a remarkable 71,853! More recently, in 2005-06, Premiership Albion played Championship Reading and drew 1-1, both goals coming from penalties inside the last ten minutes, Zoltan Gera giving us the lead and Doyle equalising. In the replay Richard Chaplow gave Albion a 2-0 half-time lead, but Lita then scored three times, the third in extra-time, as Champions-elect Royals beat relegation-bound Baggies 3-2.

 - Dave Watkin

Previous Stories:

  12 February 2007:  Big Ron at the Main Branch

  09 February 2007:  Watson joins Owls on loan

  02 February 2007:  Ellington speaks on WM

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