The FA Cup was considered so important that many clubs would go away the week beforehand to prepare for their big game. Villa chose differently, instead going away the week before the week before to a retreat at Letchworth ahead of a league game at Highbury, and a lot of did it did them. Not. But we set off at a lightening pace and Dixon soon put the ball beyond the reach of Swindin (8). The pace of the game soon slowed down in the mud such that Roper equalised (37). If possible the ball at the start of the game had to be the ball at the end of the game and as it took on the weight of a cannonball play deteriorated. Then in the 76th minute with Villa on the attack Arsenal broke away with the inevitable consequence. Roper again. 1-2, 51,540.

I am not aware that my father went to many away games so I am at a loss to understand how or why he came to go to Newcastle for our third round tie. Perhaps he went with a group of friends and perhaps he was attracted by the special buffet car excursion train, return fare 30/- (£1.50) departing New Street six o’clock in the morning for a journey lasting almost six hours. I was in bed when he got home (arrive New Street 11.44 (23.44). All I can tell you is that he was in a foul mood on Sunday morning, as explained by what follows. George Martin chose the team to beat his former employers based on the ground conditions. Remarkably our 8-9-10 were all former Newcastle players; Thompson, Dixon, Gibson. And when it came to mud they were past masters. The 56,177 had only just concluded their first rendition of Blaydon Races when Dixon ensured there would be no immediate repeat.

And with only thirteen minutes expired he repeated the feat from ten yards. Silence fell. ‘Wor Jackie’ looked certain to score until Frank Moss stole the ball off his toes but second time around Foules proved more adept and so Foulkes (20). Then in a melee Villa scored again, or so everyone thought. But not in the opinion of referee Evans and he had the last word. As the game wore on it appeared more than likely that we were about to deprive the cup holders of their trophy. But the remaining nine minutes are amongst the worst nine minutes in Villa history (and remain so). Newcastle scored three times. No wonder father was in a foul mood at Sunday breakfast. 2-4. “The team that beats the Villa wins the cup,” and so it proved.

Meanwhile I had been at Villa Park watching the disaster being played out on the scoreboard every fifteen minutes whilst at the same time watching an unusual game. The date had been kept clear of any Central League fixtures to avoid complications caused by the FA Cup draw. So what better than an English Youth trial to give the regular fans a way of satisfying their football habit? Entering into the spirit of the thing Villa decided that we should put up a team comparable in age to the opposition. So we got to see then-amateurs Roy Chapman and Trevor Birch plus Ron Jefferies again. Blunstone and Cheeseborough are the only visitors names which spring out from the pages of the programme. Needless to say mud won. Except that so too did the unnumbered spectators who saw eight goals. 3-5.

The game was also unusual for what happened at half-time. It was, after all, an England trial match. So to give the selectors a chance to have a look at a few more of their players three Villa players were withdrawn and replaced by three would-be internationals. In fact there had been one Villa player in the England side who had impressed – Norman Clarke, who went on to be selected in the next international proper v Scotland at Sunderland.

The loss on Tyneside proved hard to stomach which may account for ‘only’ 33,613 turning out at Villa Park to see Blackpool Except we knew in advance that there would be no Stanley Matthews to taunt Harry Parkes. Chosen in his place was the appropriately-named Hobson. He was to come back to Villa Park again the following Saturday in their reserves. He was on the losing side both time,s 0-4 and 0-3. Even so the reserves were now 21st.

Despite our triumph over Blackpool a visit to Anfield was not expected to provide too much joy for the Villa supporters who made up the 39,774. But, Eureka. Dixon and Thompson keep on scoring and Martin keeping them out.

Out of the cup we arranged to play a friendly at Leicester City but remember this is now February. Snow. Game postponed as early as Friday afternoon. Meanwhile at Villa Park some most unusual visitors While we had been at Liverpool the third team had drawn a Maserfield cup-tie 0-0 at Boldmere St. Michaels. Except as with all away third team matches we were really the home team. But when it came to a replay, where better than an otherwise game free Villa Park? Thus the eleven amateurs of BSM can be able to tell their grandchildren of the time they played at Villa Park against a mostly professional Villa third team. Fitness won 1-0.

Then on Tuesday morning February 6th at around eleven o’clock the school was ordered to assemble in the hall to hear an important announcement. 500 or so duly did as we were told and heard the headmaster say that the king was dead before sending back to our lesson – in silence. I have no recollection that there had been any reference to a queen. That only came the following morning in the accession ceremony at the Council House and elsewhere.

It was decided that football would carry on with due deference being expressed at each fixture. At Villa Park where Portsmouth were the visitors that consisted of the now-traditional centre circle line-up and the playing of Abide With Me, then a period of silence followed by National Anthem. No-one in their right mind expected Portsmouth to repeat their title wins of 1949 and 1950, especially after a covering of snow turned to slush and we sent them back to the south coast 2-0 adrift. The opening goal from Walsh came sensationally within milliseconds of the start of the second half. With Dickenson and co shellshocked it was almost inevitable that Dixon would add number two in a thrice and that is how it stayed to the joy of most of the 51,179. But it was always claimed that Portsmouth had a supporters club somewhere in the city. Doubtless former sailors.

Quite unexpectedly we had our comeuppance the following Saturday with the visit of lowly Stoke City. Walsh was back. We had our full team out and the ground was muddy. Perhaps that was our undoing because whilst we continued as usual to play down the diamond of darkness down the middle Stoke chose to play on the triangles of grass in the corners. Stoke took the lead in the fourteenth when Martin was the victim of a shoulder charge and dropped the ball at the feet of Sellars. Defensive negligence lead to our going two down (25). This was not what 38,200 expected to see. But right on the whistle Alan Martin the Stoke full-back obliged us with an og when trying to protect his goalkeeper, Herod.

The Roman ruler Herod appeared to have dislocated a finger at some point of the first half and he reappeared at outside-right with Smyth taking over the green jersey (Goalkeepers always wore green). Unfortunately Smyth proved every bit as competent as his fellow Irish international at the other end. To make matters worse somewhat ironically Herod scored a third goal for Stoke with the best goal of the match. In the last minute Walsh made it 2-3 and in the last half-minute Dixon hit the post. A result as gloomy as the weather had been.

Fifth round day and out of the cup. Why not play a friendly and why not Birmingham City? Odd how such friendlies always seem to be played at Villa Park, not St. Andrews. But we did allow them to feel at home by letting them bring along the Shirley Silver Band. As usual we put out our best available team . Otherwise I do not recognise Hill in their eleven. 3-2, A win is a win, whoever, whenever. But unless friendlies throw up a reserve given a rare chance to show his talents they have a habit of throwing up an injury. In our case one we definitely could not afford. Con Martin, a broken finger. A common goalkeeping hazard when the ball got heavier as the game progressed.

With a visit to league leaders Manchester United there was nothing for it but to recall Keith Jones. They were unbeaten in their last fifteen games. 42,717 came expecting to witness only one result. Defences had been on top for half an hour when suddenly two goals in a minute First Dixon. But a team is never more vulnerable than when they have just scored and we were still congratulating ourselves when Berry transferred the cheers to the other end. From then on it was Blanchflower, Frank Moss and Keith Jones against the rest but the rest could not break us down. A 1-1 triumph.

This was followed on Monday afternoon by another FA Cup second replay at Villa Park. Chelsea 5 second division Leeds United 1. Why did it take them so long?

We were not in the mood for Tottenham Hotspur, who thanks to our taking a point off Manchester United still had hopes of retaining their championship. 5,.475 tells you what Villa supporters expected of the game. Despite all the end to end excitement the scoresheet remained blank at tea-time. But nine minutes on and Duquemin ruffled the rigging. We were visibly shaken and it was not altogether surprising when he repeated the dose four minutes later. Try as we might we could not get the ball beyond Ditchburn before finally Walters (87) made the result more emphatic than it merited.

Tom Finney, Tommy Doherty and Charlie Wayman. Maybe we could have better luck at Deepdale. A frozen Deepdale as it so happened, a change from all that mud. But at least the sun was shining. Wayman, from a melee squeezed the ball past Jones. Then the best entertainment of the match was provided by a canine which twice defied all attempts to capture it. Villa supporters amongst the 30,192 may dispute that statement, preferring the equaliser by Thompson as more deserving the plaudits. In the 65th Jones had no chance of stopping a screamer by Lewis. Those in white thought that Thompson was offside when he equalised toward the end but the man in black ruled otherwise. 2-2.

Preston and Burnley always followed each other in the fixture list and being at home there could be only one result. And so it proved although it was a bit of a scrappy encounter. With Gibson incapacitated, Ken ‘Shunter’ Roberts made his debut on the right flank. Burnley had a debutant in goal, McNulty in lieu of Strong. That may or may not account for the final score but perhaps two other Burnley injuries, including Holden, a broken leg, may explain the 4-1 scoreline. Roberts had the satisfaction of a debut goal – our second (32), although he was on his knees at the time. And Thompson backheeled our fourth. Scrappy goal in a scrappy game.

Semi-final day but the draw did not cooperate in providing us with a big game at Villa Park. On offer was Burnley Res, 1-0 with Con Martin the first team custodian back at centre-half. 1-0 Worse, we did not even get to see the fifteen minutes scores go up because our game at Charlton had been postponed – snow. Villa travelled by train through the falling snow and on arriving at Paddington phoned the ground expecting the game to have already been postponed. But the referee had similarly been delayed so it had not yet officially been called off, leaving the Villa party with no choice but to continue to South London. By the time they got there the referee had also arrived and had had no hesitation in calling the game off. Villa headed straight back to Paddington poste haste but arrived home not much earlier than had the game been played. All others in London, including the semi-final Arsenal v Chelsea at White Hart Lane, suffered the same fate.

The brothers are back. Reg and Eddie Lowe. Fulham, never the most attractive of visitors, only 17,251. Admittedly it rained – hard. It was one-way traffic for most of the ninety minutes except in the 84th when they scored their only goal. 4-1

Position 5th P36 Pts 40. Not for the first time nor the last we rued the loss of form in October and November,

Easter Saturday – not a good day to be going to Middlesbrough. What day is? A first-half injury to Thompson probably cost us dear except that Middlesbrough were already two goals ahead at the time. Only Jones could claim any satisfaction from the afternoon. 0-2, 26,880.

At least we had a day’s rest before moving down to Stamford Bridge. Gibson came back on the right with Roberts. It took Chelsea all of forty-five seconds to score, a shot from their Jones beating our Jones only for Dorset to thrash the ball past Robertson in typical style. Followed quickly by another strike from Dixon. The 28,005 were now fearful of what might come next so they were relieved when Randal equalised. 2-2 at Chelsea bun time and unexpectedly that is how it remained until the end. Nobody could have anticipated what happened next day when 29,649 came to see the same twenty-two players.

It was all Villa from the word go, or more particularly the 26th minute when Gibson headed home a corner. 28-35-66-68-82-88. I had never thought that I would ever see Villa score seven goals in one game. Eight goals if Harry Parkes had not missed a penalty(84). And there was an eighth goal attributed to Chelsea by way of consolation (86).

The Baggies supporters would not have been looking forward to coming down from Handsworth. 47,294 thought they knew what to expect. Dixon once in each half twice guaranteed that expectations were fulfilled.

Then to Charlton on a Thursday evening to make up for the fixture snowed off at the end of March. Charlton with its 75,000 capacity stadium with only a few thousand seated were never the best supported of clubs so 15,444 was reasonable under the circumstances. Herbie Smith’s fourth goal of the season was sufficient to garner the two points.

Faced with a cup final the following week most clubs would have rested a couple of stars and told the rest to have a casual kickabout. Not so Newcastle United, who seemed determined to prove to George Martin, their former manager, that they had done rather well without him. They went for the jugular right from the get go and seemed determined to rub out any goal average advantage we had obtained by our 7-1 win on Easter Tuesday. To the delight of their 35,000 fans they sent the team off to Wembley after a full dress rehearsal of Blaydon Races. 1-6.

Final position 6th P 42 Pts 47. Not as good as it could have been but enough to ensure people would renew their season tickets.