Pompey get back from Spain full of Sangria and Paella to resume their FA Cup campaign in North Lancashire against Preston North End.
The fifth round game with proud Preston will be the final game being a 4 o’clock kick off this Sunday afternoon. Remember too the last time we beat Preston in the FA Cup we went on to win it!!
Pompey’s cup trips to Lancashire
It will be Pompey’s 10th visit to the Red Rose county in the last 50 years and in that time they have managed only one FA Cup victory. That win was 20 years ago when goals from Mick Quinn and Kevin Dillon put paid to Blackburn Rovers – there is an article on that game in the Third Round Previous Encounters piece. In fact four of the ten trips have been to Ewood Park, the first in 1969 ended in a 4-0 thrashing at which I had the pleasure of witnessing.
Twice recently of course we have been to Old Trafford and in 2004 we had Matty Taylor’s late equaliser at Liverpool. The other two were way back in 1959 when we drew 0-0 at mighty Accrington Stanley (winning the replay 4-1) and losing 1-0 at Burnley in round five.
Lets have a quick look at the best of those results, the 3-3 draw at Blackburn in 1994. This was an outstanding result because Rovers would go on to be Premier League runners up and the next season they were Champions. Alan McLaughlin was the hero that day with all three goals – his only Pompey hat-trick.
Three times Pompey came from behind in a brave fight against the new Premier league big spending side. Alan Shearer scored first and was pelted by the visiting fans and Kevin Gallagher put Rovers ahead with 20 minutes left and after Macca’s second Tim Sherwood restores the home advantage with five minutes to go. Pompey pour forward and with the help of Kit Symons, McLaughlin grabs a last minute equaliser and a replay at Fratton.
The replay is best remembered by Jason Wilcox’s handball goal just as another McLaughlin goal appears to give Pompey a foothold in the game. It all came in 18 days when Pompey play the top two in the Premier League four times (a league cup quarter final draw at Old Trafford as well) and are far from disgraced. The two Fratton replays attract nearly 50,000 people through the turnstiles and a rather drab season has at least some high spots.
Crowning glory
The answer to last weeks competition for which there was a record entry was of course David Crown. It came on 22 December 1981 when Southampton bought a full strength side to the Park for the semi-final of the short-lived Hampshire Professional Cup.
The game was not publicised and only 6,649 turned up for what turned out to be an exciting affair. Goals from Jeff Hemmerman and David Crown won the affair against a team boasting Keegan and Ball among their ranks. Pompey had to hold on at the end but boy that made our Christmas.
Pompey beat Aldershot 1-0 in the final with a goal from Steve Aizlewood. When I said record entry I meant record low!!
Birthdays Boys
Today 17th Reg Cutler will be 73
20th Peter Marinello 58, David Kemp 55
21st Cyril Rutter 75
22nd Shaka Hislop 39
Two names there that are often mentioned by those reminiscing are Kemp and Marinello.
Peter Marinello last year had his book the Fallen Hero published last year, which tell of his fight against alcohol, drugs and gambling. Signed by Arsenal from Hibs for 100,000 at the age of 19 in 1970, Peter had to be smuggled down to London to avoid alerting other clubs who wanted him. He was soon tagged the new George Best but by his own admission he was just too young to handle the pressure.
At Arsenal had major problems with gambling and even his wife pleaded with manager Bertie Mee to help Peter. Before he signed for Pompey there were rumours that Juventus were interested in the third generation Scottish Italian – Alan Ball advised Marinello this was only a ploy to make him stay.
Marinello was 23 when signed for Pompey and became our first £100,000 signing. He admits in an interview on BBC London that he only really performed in one game in three and let his fitness go. He admits that he loved the Pompey fans and feels that he let them down. In his first season it was not until March that Peter scored his first goal and followed it up with two more the next week but finished the season with just those three! Perhaps the moans aimed at John Utaka over his streaks are nothing new then.
Peter managed only seven goals in 95 games before moving to Motherwell in 1976. He did become a hero of all young fans at the time and Chix reminds me of his trip to Central Sports to have the number 7 stitched on his shirt and how he wore it with pride at George Street School (full effect with socks around ankles too). He also still has his Pompey Subbuteo with Marinello written in the number seven slot.
Peter is now living in Bournemouth and running an amateur side that he admits are not very good. He is a full time carer for his sick wife.
007 has asked for a quick mention for Cyril Rutter, who I met a few years ago and is still living in the Copnor Area. Cyril, who I could best describe as a craggy Yorkshire man, was a centre half who also played in both full back positions for Pompey. He amassed 180 games for the blues between 1953 and 1963 but never scored a goal. He was a key member of the team that won the Division Three title in 1961/62. He moved on soon after but I am uncertain as to where. The Pompey history says Stuttgart but other sources say Salisbury as Player/Manager. I prefer the latter.
That’s it for this week – next week as 29th February approaches we will look at Leap Year games.
Written by eastneydave.
The views within this article are the views of the individual who wrote and submitted this piece, sometimes solely theirs. They are not necessarily shared by the Vital Pompey Site Journalists.
