Rage Online

My first away game was the FA Cup 4th Round match at Leicester in front of nearly 35,000 fans at Filbert Street in 1971. It was also a rare appearance for the U's on Match of the Day. All in all it was a very exciting day for a ten year old. They played a record at half time which I liked so much that it became the first single that I ever bought. It was 'My Sweet Lord' by George Harrison.

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For me it was Orient on 24th April 1976. Last game of the season and we needed to win and other results go our way to stay up in the old 2nd division. We lost 2-1 and John Shuker missed at least one penalty (I have a hazy memory of him missing 2 but that may just be the mists of time playing a trick with my memory). In the end results didn't go our way and even if we had won we were down.

My other memories of the day relate to the unbelievable lack of crowd control and hooliganism that prevailed in those days. Throughout the game a shack at the back of the open terrace served beer which seemed to be flying through the air in much larger quantities than it was consumed. At half time a group of West Ham hoolies turned up behind the away end and were pelted with the bricks and rubble lying, as if specially for the purpose, at the back of the terrace. I particularly remember a Rolls Royce unbelievably parked in the road below being trashed by the brick volleys.

Almost 25 years later I met John Shuker and I managed to say to the Oxford legend one of the most stupid and embarrassing things I have ever said when I reminded him of the missed penalty.

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Huddersfield Town 0 Oxford United 3, 25 August 1984. I remember having to change trains about three times on the way there.

Huddersfield Town 0 Oxford United 3

It was 2-0 if I remember correctly and they sold programmes and badges at the back of the stand on quaint wooden tables. I got the impression that very little had changed since their glory years in the 30's.

It was 2-0 if I remember correctly

According to the Howlands it was 3-0. Burke scored and own goal. Shouldn't that be recorded in your stats Boris?

Definitely 3-0 - a memorable day for me too, as the exhaust fell off my sister's Escort on the M62 on the way home. I certainly remember how old-fashioned the ground seemed.

Surely the thing you must remember about the Orient game is the dust. It hadn't rained for ages, the pitch was bone dry and there we may grassless patches on it. The wind got up and made for a very unpleasant viewing experience. Not to mention the fact we got relegated. I recall my mate had produced a very complicated handwritten chart of all the combinations of results that would keep us up. Of course we had to win. We went a goal down early on, I remember, and his piece of paper was ripped up at that point and scattered in the wind.
Only one penalty miss by Shuker.

Huddersfield away was 3-0. 0-0 at half time. In the first half we had largely been outplayed. It was the first game of the seasonand I remember wondering if we were out of our depth in Div 2 (The Championship). I need not have worried. Trevor Hebberd took control in the second half and we cruised to victory.

&quotSideshow Rob&quot wrote:

It was 2-0 if I remember correctly

According to the Howlands it was 3-0. Burke scored and own goal. Shouldn't that be recorded in your stats Boris?

Yeah, it probably should, but own goal details can often be quite hard to come by. They've certainly been registered since the database was resurrected from Steve Merritt's old files, but I've never had the inclination to do anything retrospective. If you can find all the info and email it to me, I can ensure it gets put on the databank.

For the record this was my first away game. What a start to life on the road! My main memory, apart from it being a thoroughly depressing game, was the football special train, that my neighbour's sister took us on, getting trashed. Quite exciting at the time, but in retrospect it was probably pretty dangerous[/url]

Sealand Road, 1967.

Huge terraces, no segregation and hoolis everywhere. Floodlights, GLASS bottles of pop that were sold at the refreshment outlets being hurled around, a worried father but still home in one piece - a fascinating experience and err “can we go again, Dad?

[quote=&quotSideshow Rob&quot]My first away game was the FA Cup 4th Round match at Leicester in front of nearly 35,000 fans at Filbert Street in 1971.[quote]

Mine too.

&quotMally&quot wrote:For me it was Orient on 24th April 1976. Last game of the season and we needed to win and other results go our way to stay up in the old 2nd division. We lost 2-1 and John Shuker missed at least one penalty (I have a hazy memory of him missing 2 but that may just be the mists of time playing a trick with my memory). In the end results didn't go our way and even if we had won we were down.

My other memories of the day relate to the unbelievable lack of crowd control and hooliganism that prevailed in those days. Throughout the game a shack at the back of the open terrace served beer which seemed to be flying through the air in much larger quantities than it was consumed. At half time a group of West Ham hoolies turned up behind the away end and were pelted with the bricks and rubble lying, as if specially for the purpose, at the back of the terrace. I particularly remember a Rolls Royce unbelievably parked in the road below being trashed by the brick volleys.

Other memories of that day are singing &quotwe all came by camel&quot because of the sand blowing from the pitch, a chartered double decker bus full of Yellows and us being locked in after the game so we ended up lifting the massive gates ff their hinges and dumping thm in the road.

&quotboris&quot wrote:

&quotSideshow Rob&quot wrote:

It was 2-0 if I remember correctly

According to the Howlands it was 3-0. Burke scored and own goal. Shouldn't that be recorded in your stats Boris?

Yeah, it probably should, but own goal details can often be quite hard to come by. They've certainly been registered since the database was resurrected from Steve Merritt's old files, but I've never had the inclination to do anything retrospective. If you can find all the info and email it to me, I can ensure it gets put on the databank.

For the record this was my first away game. What a start to life on the road! My main memory, apart from it being a thoroughly depressing game, was the football special train, that my neighbour's sister took us on, getting trashed. Quite exciting at the time, but in retrospect it was probably pretty dangerous[/url]

My first game at the County Ground we won 3 - 1 - it hasn't gone quite so smoothly since.

&quotBaboo&quot wrote:Huddersfield away was 3-0. 0-0 at half time.

Really? I was sure we were ahead early on, possibly by a couple, but I may be confusing myself with the subsequent game at Grimsby.

&quotBaboo&quot wrote:Surely the thing you must remember about the Orient game is the dust. It hadn't rained for ages, the pitch was bone dry and there we may grassless patches on it. The wind got up and made for a very unpleasant viewing experience. Not to mention the fact we got relegated. I recall my mate had produced a very complicated handwritten chart of all the combinations of results that would keep us up. Of course we had to win. We went a goal down early on, I remember, and his piece of paper was ripped up at that point and scattered in the wind.
Only one penalty miss by Shuker.

Huddersfield away was 3-0. 0-0 at half time. In the first half we had largely been outplayed. It was the first game of the seasonand I remember wondering if we were out of our depth in Div 2 (The Championship). I need not have worried. Trevor Hebberd took control in the second half and we cruised to victory.

Yes I remember the sandstorms now and singing Orient is a desert.

As for Huddersfield's Leeds Road ground I went to Huddersfield Poly in the early 80's so saw quite a few games there including Watford with an amazing young player called John Barnes and also saw Newcastle get promoted from the old second division with Kevin Keegan achieving Geordie god like status in the process. The thing I remember about the Leeds Rd ground was the size of the covered terrace down one side of the ground. It was enormous and looked like it could have held 25,000 at least.

I think my first away game was at Walsall where we won 1-0 with a penalty in about 1983. It was a top of the table clash and so important that Steve Hardwick couldn't watch when the penalty was taken. I seem to remember a certain John Aldridge making his debut in this game - is that right?