19th February 1983 - Boro 1 Arsenal 1

[erimus74]

Boro's talisman Heine Otto scores a last gasp equaliser at home to the Gunners in the FAC 5th round

When the draw was made for the FAC 5th round with Boro paired with Arsenal who were to travel to Ayresome Park, it was a totally different football world to the Boro back then, compared to the last time Arsenal came to Teesside for an FAC match & like last time, a 5th round match too

Back in 77 the mighty Boro were a 1st division force to be reckoned with, prior to the FAC match we thumped them 3-0 in a 1st division fixture only days before the cup match in front of 26k fans, then the cup match itself in 77, Boro again thumped the Gunners, winning 4-1 in front of 35k

Back to 1983 & reality, we find ourselves playing in front of an average attendances of 12k, fighting to stay in the 2nd division with the FAC proving to be a welcome distraction, our last league home win we beat Arsenal's rivals Chelsea 3-1 back in December
 
On limited resources big Mal is slowing turning our league fortunes around, though finding league results to wins is proving hard to come by

We got to this stage in the cup by, fortunately, beating non league Bishop Stortford over 2 games in the 3rd round.
1st division (now PL) Notts County we next up in the 4th round, beaten 2-0 at Ayresome Park, with a Kevin Bettie penalty (last FAC penalty scored at Ayresome Park) for his only Boro goal & a Ray Hankin strike, his only FAC Boro goal

Arsenal, who had knocked out Bolton & Leeds were big, big favourites to beat the Boro & progress to the 6th round
The gunners took the lead in the 2nd half when Graham Rix put the visitors one nil up, but Boro battled & battled to force an injury time equaliser when our talisman Heine Otto from a tight angel flicked the ball over Pat Jennings, gerrrriiiiinnnn there 1-1 & another cup replay

I was fortunate to meet to Boro legend Heine Otto following a tour of Ajaxs amazing stadium me & my wife walked round to their excellent training grond where Heine invited me & my wife in for a coffee & chat, he told me that goal against Pat Jennings was one of the highlights of his career

Big Mals team

Kelham O'Hanlon
Irving Nattrass
Tony Mowbray
Mick Baxter
Joe Bolton
Heine Otto
Darren Wood
Mick Kennedy
Paul Sugrue
Dave Currie
Stephen Bell
Sub
Garry Macdonald