United arrived looking for revenge
26th February 1977 saw the game that all United fans had probably been praying for, for the past nine months or so when the clubs were drawn at the Dell in the fifth round of the FA Cup a repeat of the previous years final.
The first surprise for younger Saints fans was probably that despite the game being sold out weeks in advance the attendance of 29,137 was actually some 300 or so short of the previous round against Nottingham Forest, this can perhaps be explained by one of several reasons, firstly back in those days, attendances were not exactly accurate and alledgedly Clubs did sell a ticket or two that was not accounted for, another reason could be that as hordes of United fans kicked down gates etc to get in, some ticket holders might not have been recorded through the turnstiles, either way there wasnt a spare inch in the ground.
Saints were much changed from the previous May, only five survived from the starting line up, although Jim Steele was suspended and BobbY Stokes was sub, United made only two changes from their losing Wembley line up and even the referee was the same Clive Thomas.
For the record Saints side was Weels, Andruszewski, Peach, Holmes, Blyth, Waldron, Ball, Channon, Osgood, Williams, McDougall Sub Stokes.
This was a strong Saints side though, of the starting line up only Blyth & Osgood would not make an appearance for Saints in the top flight in the coming years.
But if the Saints fans hoped for a repeat of the Cup Final they would be disapointed, the United hordes were delirious when Lou Macari headed home after 13 minutes, in the 29th minute the first of a flurry of goals came, Channon was brought down by Stepney and Peach made no mistake from the spot, ten minutes later Gordon Hill restored the Red Devils lead and that lasted two minutes till Nick Holmes drove home a Channon pass.
The second half could never match the first and the game eventually petered out to a 2-2 draw.
I have to say though that I have rarely encountered such an intimidating atmosphere at the Dell as that day, United were given around 7,500 tickets officially, but possibly just as many came without tickets, after the game it was not a safe place to be if you were a Saints supporter, United's fans had the worst reputation in the country in the 1970's and they certainly lived up to it on this day
Saints lost the replay at Old Trafford 2-1 but were not helped by the sending off of Jim Steele, the FA CUp run that had started the previous January against Aston Villa was finally over.