15th November 1986 - FAC 1st round & a Bernie treble

[erimus74]

FAC 1st round
Boro 3 Blackpool 0

The mighty Boro beat Blackpool 3-0 in the FAC 1st round, the last time we played a 1st round FAC tie was 20 years previous, away to Chester City on the 26th November 1966, John O'Rourke scored a hat trick that day as Boro won 5-2

Boro won this game with a Bernie Joseph Slaven hat trick, his 1st for the Boro, our 1st after liquidation & our 1st FAC hat trick since David Mills bagged 3 at home to Arsenal on the 26th February 1977

It was the 85th HT at AP, with Bernie becoming the 44th different Boro player to score a HT, our 15th FAC hat trick & 118th overall

This win gained sweet revenge on Blackpool who, in October, became the 1st team to beat us in the league that season when beating us 3-1 at Ayresome Park.

Match attendance 11,205

Bruce's team.
Stephen Pears
Brian Laws
Colin Cooper
Tony Mowbray
Gary Parkinson
Gary Pallister
Bernie Slaven
Archie Stephens
Alan Kernaghan
Gary Gill
Stuart Ripley

Great, great days indeed

In 2006 I attended the 20 year anniversary dinner.
Colin Cooper, along with Tony Mowbray, was one of the speakers & one comment Colin Cooper said which rang out so true, 'We didn't know what we had till it was gone'
It was such a special period for players & fans alike, whoever was part of that journey will never forget those unbelievable times.