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Great Saints FA Cup Quarter Final Games Part 1
Friday, 18th Mar 2022 10:01

In this two part series we take a look at the FA quarter final ties that Southampton FC have taken part in, how many of them did you attend and what memories do you have.

I would suspect that there are not many on here that were around in season 1962/63 when Saints were drawn away to Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup 6th round, as a kid in the 1970's though there were plenty who remembered the Cup run of that season and what was a quarter final that stretched to two replays.

In many respects the first game at the City ground is one of the forgotten games of Saints history, around 5,000 Saints supporters travelled up to the East Midlands in a crowd of 28,232.

They saw the Old Gold shirted Saints fall behind in the 80th minute, but the visitors responded quickly through Terry Paine and the game ended 1-1, the name of Southampton would be in the semi final draw back then made on Monday lunchtime, but although they would be drawn out of the hat, they still had to beat Forest at the Dell to earn the right to play Manchester United.

The gates at the Dell four days later, the turnstiles were shut by 7pm with officially 29,497 inside the ground and thousands still outside.

But it was not to be good watching, Saints would be 2-0 down after just 5 minutes and that would be the score at half time, the visitors playing a resolute defensive formation and allowing Saints little chance to get back in the tie.

But if Saints thought they were still in the game they were mistaken, Forest scored a third on 55 minutes and surely Saints were out of the game and out of the cup.

But the crowd seemed to sense a special night and they erupted ten minutes later when Terry Paine headed home, but the linesman's flag went up and the goal was disallowed.

That seemed to raise the crowd even more and no one was going home, but Forest still held firm and as the game entered the last 16 minutes the scoreline hadn't changed, but then came a goal George Kirby stooping low to head home.

Now it was one way traffic with Paine on one wing and John Sydenham on the other banging the crosses into the box Kirby forced the keeper into palming the ball into his own net and it was 3-2.

Now the atmosphere was electric and the crowd were almost sucking the ball into the net, but the final minute arrived with Saints still behind but then David Burnside fired home the equaliser and the tie was into extra time.

The extra 30 minutes though, saw no more scoring although it was Saints who looked most likely, so it was to a second replay five days later at White Hart Lane, Cup fever had hit Southampton, all the trains were booked solid as were coaches and an estimated 25,000 Saints fans made their way to North London, many getting there late and missing the first half due to traffic jam's, that made little difference given that with a gate of 42, 256, Forest fans were in short supply in the crowd.

Saints again wore the lucky Old Gold kit, and came out to a rousing chorus of "Oh When The Saints Go Marching In " local journalists at the game wrote that such was the deafening roar that it eclipsed Spurs supporters when their team were at home, back then Tottenham did not claim the song as their own, perhaps they should ask some of their own older fans who were at the game whose anthem this song is.

The first 40 minutes were goalless, but then just before the break that all changed, firstly David Burnside smashed in a 25 yard volley and two minutes later Ken Wimshurst let fly and Saints led for the first time in the tie.

During the break another 3,000 Saints supporters came into the ground to find their side in the lead and the atmosphere ramped up several notches, on the hour Burnside scored another screamer and 25,000 Saints fans went mad.

Forest didn't have the spirit Saints had in the previous game and were in no state to fight back, George O'Brien scored a brace and it was 5-0, it could have been six but the fans didn't care, they invaded the pitch at the final whistle and chaired the players off.

The trip home was one big traffic jam from White Hart Lane to Southampton as the Saints supporters looked forward to an FA Cup semi final, the first one for 36 years, since 1927 to be precise.

To put this in context, Southampton who at that time where a second division side and indeed a mid table one at that finishing 11th, had beaten a first division side 5-0.

It would be another 13 years before the next quarter final tie, although we would come close on several occasions.

Photo: Action Images



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PaleRider added 10:40 - Mar 18
I love these retrospectives, Nick. They always remind me why I support Saints.
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SaintNick added 11:47 - Mar 18
Thanks I like writing them, these days a lot of the modern day fans don't care for our heritage, as a club we have done little to preserve it, our previous chairman from 2009 -2014 threw a lot of it out
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dirk_doone added 14:21 - Mar 18
Saints have a fairly good record in them. This is our 23rd FA Cup quarter-final and, so far, we've reached 13 semi-finals. Let's hope we reach our 14th on Sunday.
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Colburn added 17:07 - Mar 18
Great story! One which was recounted many times in my youth as it was a decade before I was born because my Grandad left the Dell on first replay with 20 mins to go.. Thus was mocked by the family many times thereafter!
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underweststand added 18:01 - Mar 18
60 years ago , but I can still recall coming home from school and going up to the Dell for the replay match v. Forest. What a comeback that was from 0-3 down, and sdaints were so dominant that we couldn't figure out how we didn't win that game in Extra Time.

Didn't get to go to Tottenham for the replay, in part because there wasn't a bus or train seat available anywhere as the lion's share of that 42,000 crowd were Saints fans.
I do recall seeing the highlights on late night TV, but in the days of live recording and no video tape - that film clip was probably consigned to the waste bin.

I did get to go to the Semi Final game v. Man Utd at Villa Park, but after all the Cup heroics it was a real disappointment as neither side played well, and Denis Law won the game for MU and got the ball over the line - via his knee. There are film highlights of that game on You Tube (April 1963) .

As for Sunday's match....as if playing the top of the table side isn't enough of a challenge, we have Mr. Dean as referee. Whatever else happens, we won't get any penalty decisions from him, and he certainly won't red card a City player - will he ?

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codge added 19:04 - Mar 19
Still have the program for the replay at the Dell against Forest what a memory,and then the game at Tottenham unbelievable,two years later l was John Sydenhams milky and he was a such gentleman always a joy to speak with about the games.Players in them days just got on with game not like now rolling around on the ground like they were hit by a big rig. COYR.
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underweststand added 08:55 - Mar 20
Thinking back even more ..there are a myriad personal recollections that have been shared by some of us over almost 60 years since....
- Spurs staff only opened up half of the ground, believing that few would turn out for a midweek evening Cup replay and with both sets of fans having to travel so far.
- The queues were enormous around White Hart Lane, and it took time for fans to get into the ground. Estimated 3000 Saints fans got in after HT, after which the gates were eventually locked, but many stayed outside whilst those inside shouted down with running commentaries over the wall.
- Getting home was a nightmare, not just for the traffic problems, but many late night trains had already departed, and thousands didn't get back to So'ton until the morning.
- For many of my generation this still ranks as one of the most memorable Cup runs (even allowing for 1976) as the because of the Big Freeze of 1963 when our third round tie wasn't even played until early February, and despite trying to fight clear of the Second Division drop zone we beat some good quality opposition along the way, and played with a virtually unchanged side through a backlog of games for the second half of that season.
I could probably recite that line-up by heart - even now.
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