Reading 1 Lincoln City 1 (Football League Division Four)
Lincoln City had missed out on promotion to the Third Division in the last game of the previous season thanks to the method of using goal average to separate teams with the same number of points, writes Malcolm Johnson.
Going up instead had been Chester on a tiny fraction of a goal. But since then, despite losing the first game of the 1975/76 season the Imps had been in unstoppable form with only four league defeats and with 96 goals scored at an average of well over two per game.
A first promotion for 24 years, and a long-awaited return to the Third Division after fourteen seasons had been confirmed without playing a game the previous Tuesday night when fourth-placed Tranmere had suffered a shock home defeat to Hartlepool. Prior to the match against visiting Darlington the following night there was a lap of honour by the players before the match before goals from midfielders Dennis Booth and Dave Smith saw a 2-1 win in front of a crowd of over ten thousand.
The next objective was to win the championship, but first there was a top of the table clash with third-placed Reading. Managed by former Sunderland and Irish international defender Charlie Hurley now in his fourth full season in charge, the Biscuitmen, as they were still known, had not been out of the top four since mid-October. While the game was not really a ‘four-pointer’ as Lincoln were already promoted Reading were not there yet and still needed points to fight off the challenge of fifth-placed Huddersfield.
The teams were:
City:
- Peter Grotier
- Ian Branfoot
- Phil Neale
- Dennis Booth
- Sam Ellis
- Terry Cooper
- John Fleming
- John Ward
- Dick Krzywicki
- Dave Smith
- Alan Harding
- David Wiggett
Reading:
- John Turner
- Stewart Henderson
- Dave Moreline
- John Murray
- Steve Hetzke
- Tommy Youlden
- Dennis Nelson
- Ray Hiron
- Robin Friday
- Bryan Carnaby
- Eamon Dunphy
- Mick Hollis
Goalkeeper Peter Grotier had been signed from West Ham United at the start of the 1974/75 season for a club record fee of £16,666 with the money partly raised by the supporters and had been named in the PFA Division Four team of the year for that season as well as the current one.
City had been able to field a settled back four for most of the last three seasons with full backs Ian Branfoot and Dennis Leigh flanking Sam Ellis and Terry Cooper. Leigh, however had been absent since the middle of March following an operation for appendicitis. His place was taken by 21-year-old Phil Neale who had made his debut a year ago, and who as well as a budding cricketer, was still regarded as something of a utility player before later settling down to make the left back slot his own. At right back was Ian Branfoot, who had been named in the PFA Team of the Year for the 1973/4 season and was again for the current one. He and centre half and club captain Ellis had been signed for a total outlay of around £14,500 in the summer of 1973 from Doncaster and Mansfield respectively. Terry Cooper who had been signed by Taylor’s predecessor David Herd from Notts County in the summer of 1972 after a spell on loan the previous season. Both he and Ellis had also been named in the PFA Team of the Year for the current season.
In the centre of midfield were Dennis Booth who had spent the last third of the 1972/73 season on loan from Southend before signing permanently at a cost of £9,000, and the long-serving Dave Smith, a Ron Gray signing from Middlesbrough in the summer of 1968. On the right flank was the hard-working John Fleming, signed in the summer from Oxford United, while on the left was Alan Harding, an early signing for Taylor, joining from Darlington in March 1973 in a then record deal worth £14,500.
Up front was local boy John Ward, another player brought to the club by Ron Gray from local football a year after Dave Smith and currently top scorer with 27 goals including four in a League Cup game with Chesterfield. Alongside him in the absence of the injured Percy Freeman was former Welsh International Dick Krzywicki. Normally a right winger, ‘Whizzer’ had joined on a free transfer from Huddersfield Town in the summer of 1974 after previous experience with West Bromwich Albion.
Due to the number of players on the injured list and with recent loanees Bert Bowery and Tony Woodcock having returned to parent club Nottingham Forest, City included young defender David Wiggett on the substitutes bench, the 18-year-old having made just three first team appearances.
In goal for Reading was 21-year-old John Turner who had started his career with Derby County. Joining the Biscuitmen for the current season, he had come into the side after the long-serving Steve Death had suffered a broken jaw towards the end of February.
At right back was the experienced Stewart Henderson who had made over 200 appearances for Brighton before joining Reading in 1973. He was partnered by former Fulham player Dave Moreline now in his second season with the club, while in central defence were the craggy Steve Hetzke and Tommy Youlden. The 6ft 4in Hetzke, now aged 20, had been the youngest player ever to appear in a competitive match for Reading and had come into the side at about the same time as Turner, replacing the more experienced Geoff Barker. Youlden had started his career with Arsenal before playing nearly 100 games for Second Division Portsmouth and joined Reading in 1972.
In midfield Reading could boast a player with 23 international caps for the Republic of Ireland in 29-year-old Eamon Dunphy. He had played almost 300 games for Second Division Millwall before spending time with Charlton Athletic and had joined Reading the previous summer. After football he became a journalist and broadcaster, chiefly in Ireland, and was to become a vocal critic of Jack Charlton’s spell in charge of the national side. Bryan Carnaby had been with the club since 1972 and was another player to have only come into the side recently in the current season.
On the right was second-highest scorer John Murray with 15 goals, including two hat-tricks in the season so far. Starting his career with Burnley, playing a number of First Division games, he had made his name with Bury before joining Reading in 1974. Signed for £10,000 from Crewe just before the transfer deadline was the nippy Dennis Nelson. He had scored on his debut five matches ago but not since.
Main striker was the mercurial but troubled Robin Friday, variously described as “The greatest footballer you never saw” and “the lower league George Best.” The 23-year-old had played for various non-league clubs in the London area before joining Reading in January 1974. After scoring 20 goals in the previous season, he had 20 so far this time around. He would join Second Division Cardiff City at the end of the year and after troubled times on and off the field would retire from football just a year after that. In some ways at the opposite end of the spectrum from Friday was the 32-year-old ‘old pro centre forward’ Ray Hiron. In over 300 Second Division games for Portsmouth, he had averaged a goal every three games and had been another summer signing for Reading with eight goals so far.
Substitute utility forward Mick Hollis had been another pre-deadline signing, arriving from Stockport County after scoring seven goals for them in the current season.
The game was Reading’s first ever to have a match sponsor – by local shops My Goodness Stores. “Offering you the public of Reading and Basingstoke the best possible way to buy your fruit, vegetables, eggs and house fuel.”
Prior to the match Graham Taylor had said that on paper it looked a hard game, “and it is the type of game people expect you to lose” but, “when you get a match like this you are anxious, more than ever, to win, to prove people wrong.”
In front of an attendance of 15,683, Reading’s highest for ten years, the Imps took the field through a guard of honour provided by the Reading players. The home side then began in hesitant fashion but after 17 minutes, Dennis Nelson floated over a cross which found Ray Hiron unmarked at the near post to head home. This gave Reading some confidence, but Lincoln powered back and Steve Hetzke headed a Dave Smith free kick against his own bar. At the other end John Murray cracked in a 35-yard shot that went just past the post.
Two minutes before half time Lincoln equalised when a cross went over to Smith. He saw John Ward unmarked on the left of the box and touched the ball to him for Lincoln’s top scorer to slide it home inside the far post. The second half turned out to be rather flat, but Peter Grotier had to palm away a Hetzke free kick from 25 yards and was also in action to make an instinctive save when, unseen by the referee, Robin Friday punched the ball goalwards from close range.
Northampton’s 2-1 win at Bradford City cut the Imps’ lead at the top to three points whilst assuring themselves of promotion. Tranmere were still hanging on to fourth place despite losing to City’s last opponents Darlington as Huddersfield missed the chance to overtake them by being held to a draw at home by Scunthorpe.
In a rearranged game at Stockport the following Monday night City’s 3-0 win put their lead at the top back to five points, and also included the 100th league goal of the season, fittingly scored by Dave Smith, the longest-serving player. After beating Stockport again on Good Friday, the following day’s visit of Doncaster saw the championship won in style with a 5-0 win.
As for Reading, promotion was secured in the next-to-last game of the season with a 2-2 draw at Cambridge. Unfortunately, they were to come straight back down, with City joining them back in Division Four two years later.
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