Why do a piece on a League Cup match in 1973 you may ask, well read on as it was a very unique fixture in Saints recent history.
When Saints met Norwich City at the Dell on 21st November 1973, supporters had high hopes of progression in the competition and indeed in the league as well, ultimately this would be the season that we would be relegated, but on this day we sat 8th in the old First Division, only three points off second place(back then remember it was only two points for a win) with Lawrie McMenemy only a week earlier having been promoted from team manager designate to gaffer in his own right, aints fans thought great things lay ahead, they did but there was a bit of pain to go through first.
For their part the Canaries lay third from bottom in the division and in the first season of three up three down this meant that they were in the relegation places, so this tie although not seen as a formality was certainly one where we were the favourites.
So apart from these facts, why would this tie be unique, well Britain was in the middle of strikes by coal miners and supplies to power stations meant that we not only had power cuts but all non essential electrical use was banned, including the use of floodlights at football matches, this meant that Saturday fixtures were kicking off at 2.15pm and this League Cup tie was played on a Wednesday afternoon at 2.15pm as well.
In some respects the crowd might actuially be boosted by this, we also had a three day working week in many industries as well as strikes, but for those of us still at school it presented a problem.
From the moment that the date and time of the fixture was announced schools all over the Southampton area were laying down the law in assemblies, those that mysteriously went missing on the Wednesday would be dealt with severely, the school play ground rumour mill was in overdrive, truant officers would be on all turnstiles at the Dell along with a selection of teachers from all schools looking out for those skiving off to see the game, those caught would be immediately arrested and dealt with on release from Borstal, of course this was far from the truth and I cant remember seeing any truant officers or teachers and certainly the police on duty werent interested in asking kids for their age, Saints certainly werent, the boys turnstiles were open as usual.
For those of us who were known Saints supporters at school, there was of course a big problem, we were being watched carefully and would be the first to be checked in the register, given this and the rumours abounding, drastic times called for drastic action, not having missed a game all season at home so far, I didnt intend to miss this one, being missing on Wednesday only would mean repercussions, I needed to take the whole week off to ensure that I could truly claim illness.
Luckily my Mum wasn't in total opposition to the plan, probably from the point of view that firstly being a working mother sho knew she couldn't stop me and secondly because on the Monday I probably convinced her I was ill, so by the Wednesday when she realised Saints were at home on the afternoon it was a bit late as she had already informed the school I was seriously ill(or at least had flu or something)
So it was just a matter of going to the game and evading authority which as previously mentioned didn't materialise and I took up my position t the front of the Milton Road end right behind the goal.
To say Saints dominated the game is an understatement, we battered them, but a Suggett goal after only 21 minutes left us chasing the game, my abiding memory is of Norwich keepr Kevin Keelan stopping everything, sometimes more by luck than judgement, but he stopped it and to make matters worse as we piled forward searching for that equaliser, Mellor made it two in the final minute.
So Saints went out of the League Cup and little did we know we were heading down the league at a rate of knots as well, all that planning had been for nothing and I now also had to stay off school for the rest of the week and in those days with only three tv channels and I think only two of them on in the day time, there was only so much Crown Court, Houseparty and other stuff that a young boy could stomach.
The crowd incidentally was 14,415, higher than the two previous home games in the competition that season and to put it in context, only a few thousand less than would see Everton at the Dell ten days or so later.