28th January 1978 - FAC 4th round - Boro 3 Everton 2

[erimus74]

After watching big Jacks Boro on an Australian tour from his hospital bed, Craig decided, there & then, that was the career for him & after recovering from his stay in hospital, told his parents of his plans to travel to the UK to become a professional footballer

Craig scrimped & saved & a big help from his parents, who raised the money he needed to travel to the UK hoping to make it as a professional footballer

When he arrived in the UK he couldn't have felt more unwelcome & after a trial match, in awful, wet, muddy conditions & some unsavoury comments from big Jack Craig said he was determined to prove his doubters wrong & that he had what it takes to go to the very top
He certainly did & his story to get from arriving in the UK, to his 1st Boro outing & a glamorous FAC tie at home to Everton is a must hear on his podcast, it really is

After many days dodging the glare of big Jack & help from the 1st team players Craig successfully stayed in the UK, witnessed he departure of big Jack & the arrival of John Neal

Later in John Neals debut season (1977) Boro manager John Neal had heard & seen enough of Craig in training & reserve cutting's to hand him the No10 shirt for his debut, replacing Tony McAndrew,
Having hid from big Jack during his day's as Boro manager to the arrival of John Neal, he trained hard, on his own, for a big part of that time, then when he got his break in the reserves he was focused on showing JN what his game was about, on this day all his hard work had paid dividends
The Everton cup tie was our reward after knocking out Coventry 3-0 in the 3rd round

Boro won this game 3-2 with goals from John Mahoney, his 1st Boro goal & a brace from David Mills, his 11th goal of the season & 10th FAC goal
On the Everton cup tie, Boro went in to a 3-0 lead, Everton then brought on Duncan McKenzie & at the end, we were hanging on for victory, but we did & went in to the hat for the 5th round
This victory brought sweet revenge, as Everton knocked out the mighty Boro 2-1 at Ayresome Park, with the help of one of the best opposition goalkeeping performances I have ever witnessed at AP, George Woods, who was heroic when Everton knocked us out of the league cup earlier in the season, not so in the FAC tie

John Neals team.

Jim Platt
John Craggs
Ian Bailey
John Mahoney
Stuey Boam
Alan Ramage
David Mills
Stan Cummins
Billy Ashcroft
Craig Johnston
David Armstrong.

[erimus74]

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