3rd September 1977 - Farewell to a Boro legend

[erimus74]

After drawing at home to Liverpool, away at Norwich & beating Newcastle at home, Boro travelled to the west midlands to face West Brom, who lost their previous league game away at Liverpool, for our 4th league game of the season, who included a talented winger named Laurie Cunningham recently signed from Leyton Orient

This game was sadly to be, a Boro legends final appearance in a Boro first team shirt
A record signing making his Boro debut, an opposing player with a massive future for WBA, making his debut & a future Boro manager scores for the opposition

The late, great, Willie Maddren, a member of Charlton's champions & for me, the best ever Boro defender making 340 appearances, scoring 21 goals, played his final first team game for the Boro
We were also to lose another member from Charlton champions with Peter Brine making his final Boro away appearance
Billy Ashcroft signed from Wrexham in midweek for a club record £135k made his debut, along with Cyril Regis making & scoring on his West Brom debut
Boro manager John Neal made two changes from the midweek league cup draw away to Sunderland
Billy Ashcroft making his debut, replacing Billy Woof with Graeme Hedley replacing John Hickton on the bench.
Goalkeeper, Jim Platt, who was stretchered off against Sunderland in midweek was fit to play with Peter Brine, who deputised for Jim Platt in goal, keeping his No4 shirt.
Billy Woof went on to make 4 more appearances from the bench that season

With 15 minutes on the clock, future Boro manager Bryan Robson scores from close range to put the home side one up & 5 minutes later, Cyril Regis doubles their lead, Boro going in at HT 2-0 down
Willie says in his emotional book "Extra Time", a fit Willie wouldn't have let Cyril turn & score his goal

Within two minutes of the second half David Mills pulled a goal back & for a while, the game went from end to end
With a few minutes remaining David Mills hits the bar & with that our final chance of getting something out of the game had gone & with it Boro & John Neal suffering their 1st defeat of the season
Along with Cyril Regis & Bryan Robson it was Laurie Cunningham's debut season they had some team back then

John Neals team.

Jim Platt
John Craggs
Terry Cooper
Peter Brine
Stuart Boam
Willie Maddren
John Mahoney
David Mills
Billy Ashcroft
Tony McAndrew
David Armstrong
Sub
Graeme Hedley

After 4 years John Neal wasn't very far from building a very good team back then that could challenge the best of them, the board however.....

[Strof]

I very rarely resort to Google but didn't we play them in the fa cup that year ?

I can just picture ian bailey playing in front of the south terrace kicking towards the Holgate iirc think he scored the winner .
I must have seen them play WBA quite a bit around then but that's my only memory of playing them.
Great posts erimus

[erimus74]

I very rarely resort to Google but didn't we play them in the fa cup that year ?

I can just picture ian bailey playing in front of the south terrace kicking towards the Holgate iirc think he scored the winner .
I must have seen them play WBA quite a bit around then but that's my only memory of playing them.
Great posts erimus

Cheers Strof

1980/81 we beat West Brom 1-0 at Ayresome Park in the FAC 4th round

That was the game when David Hodgson was suspended after been sent off the previous week away to Man City & so went in the holgate with his mates

Ian Bailey scored the only goal of the game. You always dream of scoring a wonder goal, Ian Baileys couldn't have been more opposite, a daisy cutter of a shot that Tony Godden could have thrown his cap on & picked up but somehow, it trickled under his body. He later deemed himself when saving a David Armstrong penalty in the second half but we held on & went through to the 5th round