It is to be hoped that the third line of Tennyson’s epic does not come to pass. “All in the valley of death rode the six hundred.” Let’s find out.

The second half of the season begins, as last season, with a New Year’s Day visit to Sunderland. A Friday. Somehow 44,337 absented themselves from the daily grind. At least we did not have to face Ford again. But yet another series of team changes. Chisholm, who may or not have been part of the deal that saw Ford move from Sunderland to Cardiff, had the satisfaction of scoring a debut goal. Len Shackleton, no surprise there, the second (50). Nevertheless Sunderland remain 21st. Is it just possible we could be rid of this problematic journey?

One other journey we would be glad to get rid of was Highbury, but that seemed unlikely. Made worse because we had to go there on consecutive Saturdays. Fog was a regular feature of weather in the fifties. Hence the orange ball. Bizarre though it sounds, the rule was that a game could go ahead if both goals could be seen from the centre circle No matter that the spectators cannot see from the terraces.

As it was referee Buckle from Peterborough allowed proceedings to start. Eleven minutes later the score was Arsenal 3 Villa 0. Ten minutes after that he took the players aside, waited for a few more minutes in case, as so often happened, a wind would clear the problem, then everyone was sent home. Curiously scorer of the second Arsenal goal was Tommy Lawton, player-manager for Brentford twelve months ago. I do not make these things up!

We were obliged to return to Highbury again the following Saturday for a third round cup tie. Interestingly the two excursion trains from New Street – two you will note, only one for the league fixture – were diagrammed to go direct to Highbury station, not Euston. An interesting route around north London – I wonder if that is what really happened?

Everyone was confident that there would be no repeat of the twenty minutes of the previous week. How wrong is it possible to be? Famous referee Arthur Ellis presided over an even more embarrassing debacle that began after only 45 seconds. Perhaps playing in white shirts might help to mitigate the disaster. Arsenal chose blue but as usual with white sleeves as designed by Herbert Chapman to make them look bigger.

Further goals (6 and 9) ensured a repeat of last week’s score after twenty minutes before McParland drew attention to himself and the assembled 50,990. Goals after 61 and 82 minutes had Villa fans trying to hide their embarrassment at having spent 15/- (75p) just to be there.

Little wonder that only 24,802 dragged themselves out of the pubs before closing time (2.15 k.o.) to see Portsmouth in the mud. Soul mates in distress. We had Martin at left-back and Chapman at centre-forward. Drab and boring is the only possible description of this sad encounter. Relieved only by two goals in four minutes. Thompson followed by Harris so we had to settle for only one point, just three points above the bottom two

Blackpool were having difficulty in trying to see off second division Luton Town (0-0 and 1-1)so where better to settle things than Villa Park on a Monday afternoon? Except they did not settle things, 1-1 after extra time so they had to go to the Molineux a week later before Blackpool won 2-1.

All this should have been good news for Villa because we not only got to see Blackpool at first hand but we had to go to Blackpool ahead of their third replay. But we failed to take advantage of the tired seasiders. If indeed they were tired. It was a big day for K.O. Roberts, who in making his debut at age seventeen became our youngest top-flight player.

Houghton had been appointed manager in the expectation that he would bring some younger players into the club. Here, finally was some proof. Roberts reportedly ‘had a good game’ but it is perhaps not a good idea to mention that Garrett, in direct opposition to Roberts spent most of the first half limping along the wing before retiring to the dressing room for the second half.

Even so we failed to overcome ten men. Stephenson, deputising for Mortenson scored (23) but their lead lasted for barely a minute when Thompson headed home. A trick which he repeated (42). With Blackpool on the rocks Villa went all out at the start of the second period but as so often happens when goals do not come defenders took their eye off the ball and Perry equalised (67). Not content with that he added a third (76) and 16,829 were left to face a bitterly cold wind if their way home took them along the prom.

It might be thought that being out of the cup we might take a weekend to recoup our resources. But no. Houghton has friends in Nottingham. Why not visit them to play a friendly against Forest? The fact that we caused them to suffer their first home defeat of the season is irrelevant in the general scheme of things. We skated to a 2-0 success before a very modest crowd, especially given the weather.

Resuming the relegation scrap we hoped for better things with the arrival of Chelsea. Roberts making his Villa Park debut. After a bright start our deficiencies were exposed by McNichol (36). But then from ten yards out Roberts capped things with a hard shot (44).

Baxter was forced to leave the field on a stretcher but after a dose of the magic sponge he soon returned. Then Roy Bentley added to the gloom over Aston (77) and you can already hear the slow handclapping as I type. Five minutes to go when Walsh was tripped. Who would take the penalty? There was no obvious candidate. Cometh the hour cometh the man. The man was Blanchflower. 20,685. A valuable point but even so now 19th.

Then we manged to get an enforced weekend off when water turned to ice at Bramall Lane and we were spared a pointless journey. Every player in the reserve team that defeated Sheffield United Reserves 3-0 had considerable first team experience. So much for youth!

Just like Villa, third placed Huddersfield Town had genuine hopes of resurrecting their great days of the thirties. They were going to be no pushover. After two days of heavy rain – mud. Our kind of pitch. Twenty-eight minutes of give and take resulted in Huddersfield giving and Thompson taking. But Metcalfe had other ideas and there was much muttering amongst the Bovril queues. After a positive pep talk McParland gets a mention again straight away when his corner kick found Thompson.

But it was not to be. We found out why Huddersfield were quite worthy of being where they were. Glazzard. 2-2 and 24,451 trudged off into the darkness wondering if we would ever win again.

Our best opportunity lay when Liverpool where due in town. A few more than usual, 25,973, may have thought so because they were adrift at the bottom of the league and without an away win. After numerous corners in our favour a goal-free first-half seemed on the cards when Thompson netted from inches. But only after the referee held a top-level inquiry with his linesman. Always a nervous moment!

Halfway through the half the worst happened. Billy Liddell centred, Bimpson shot. Silence fell. We were rescued from oblivion by Jones only for us to get yet another late goal. Diminutive Roberts (88) was nearly crushed by his grateful team mates when the ball landed at his feet in a crowded area and he figured that the best thing he could do with it was to kick it goalwards. Our losing streak ended halted at six. But the likelihood of two consecutive wins well, unlikely.

But it rained at St. James’s Park, the turf slippery where there was any, the rest mud. 36,847 braved the elements with no thoughts beyond a home win. But we had Jones, now back in top notch form and aided by a taut defence we kept Milburn and co at bay for the better part of an hour. At which point Walsh broke clear and after that we were never going to relinquish the advantage. Now we have a six point cushion.

Blanchflower finds himself in opposition to his brother Jack when Manchester United arrive. Attendances continue to rise by a few at a time, 26.023. We could afford the luxury of being unchanged. It was in the true tradition of recent Villa–United encounters. Fast and furious. But with Parkes off the field receiving treatment United took advantage of his absence when Taylor scored. It did not take Thompson long to restore equilibrium when the ball rebounded back off the net so quickly some did not realise he had scored.

Taylor (37) was not to be denied though and he too tested the strength of the rigging. After another goalmouth melee Baxter scored his first Villa goal (81) only to receive the same degree of appreciation afforded to young Roberts.

Villa get the following weekend off because the ground has been given over to a cup semi-final. The game received far more publicity nationally because one of the combatants, Port Vale, had become only the second third division team to reach a semi since Millwall in 1937.

And given that it was a local derby against West Bromwich Albion they were given a good chance. I had a black and white school scarf and was persuaded to wear it to the match Fortunately I had a ticket for the Port Vale end otherwise the consequences may have been unthinkable. Just before half-time Leake scored for Vale. This only seemed to raise them to even higher heights. Only for Dudley, an appropriate name if ever there was one, to score when the ball spun into the net as if propelled there by Eric Hollies.

There was a sense that it was only a matter of time before class told. But from a Vale viewpoint it was a cruel blow. There was a famous photograph of Heath, the Albion goalkeeper, holding a post scared to look at what was happening at the other end. What was happening was Allen destroying the hopes of the romantics by netting from the penalty spot.

Hopes that the Vila revival – five games undefeated – would continue at Bolton were misplaced. We were thrashed 0-3. Lofthouse was there but my brother did not record who did what in his programme. I can report that we were unchanged.

Something which did not happen when we faced Sheffield Wednesday on a Wednesday afternoon. A game watched by a paltry 9,609. After just eleven first team games McParland was away on international duty and being shown the ropes by Blanchflower at Wrexham. Wales 1 Ireland 2 (McParland 2) Thompson (12) only for Woodhead (28) to bring hush where there was already hush – lots of it. Dixon (38) ensured that Villa would go off to the oranges to a smattering of applause Eight games to go and a six point cushion.

It’s off to Middlesbrough. The Irish internationals are back to join Walsh. Once again Mannion and Delapenha were our tormentors as we attempted to contend with a gale off the North Sea. Mannion actually scored their opening goal (26) before Frank Moss effectively scored their winner (75) when he diverted a harmless shot into a harmful one. A shot by McParland (82) led to hopes that we could steal a point which we would have done with the very last kick of the game by Walsh save for the intervention of a man with a flag.

One of the pleasures in going to Highbury used to be the fact that they were another club with a resident band. In their case the Metropolitan Police Band. More an orchestra pit band than the marching variety. Always a welcoming tune when it was our turn to run out on to the field. The visiting team were usually obliged to be first out and expected to go to the further end and thus subjected to the roar when the home team emerged in the hopes that this would raise their ‘fear’ level.

5pm on a Tuesday is probably not a good time to kick off such a make-up fixture so there was no rush to get there. Only 14,619 in fact. We were fearful what had happened in the abandoned match in January but need not have worried. Especially when after only eight minutes McParland continued his goalscoring exploits. Kelsey became the busier keeper but after the break we had to contend with the wiles of Tommy Lawton again (66). It could have been game over when in the 75th Moss handled.

Something he seemed to do instinctively far too often. Wills took the penalty, hit the post, then hit the rebound home but it had not been touched by any other hence – no goal. The sort of rule that used to be illustrated in the centre of each Villa News to advertise M&B beer. We were unable to take advantage of our good fortune but were more than pleased with a point.

Burnley at home. Two points, surely. It was one-way traffic from the very moment Baxter scored with a distant grubhunter. McParland put more meat behind the shot which finally saw us go two up just shy of half-time leaving 23,043 or so in good humour. Eventually relentless pressure was rewarded when Gibson tapped the ball into the empty space after McDonald had left the gate open. A breakaway goal by Holden was never going to spoil the fun. Pace back after a long absence but once again standing in for Walsh seized his opportunity – twice. 5-1. Easy, peasy. It was only Burnley, after all.

There was always something depressing about going to Charlton. A London club that seemed to be a long way from London. Unchanged, obviously. A hard pitch and thus a bouncing ball, not our kind of game. Leary came better equipped. Half-time spent pulling weeds from the expanse of empty terraces – a ritual at the Valley. 22,226.

An injury to Gibson threatened to put paid to our chances. Roberts outside-left, Blanchflower inside-right, McParland right-half. Then with Bartram out of his goal to get a closer view of what was happening at the other end McParland lobbed the ball over his head. A precious point – and safety for another season.

Easter Monday and we go to the Hawthorns where the Albion still had hopes of winning the double. They had been vying with Wolves at the top of the table all season. Tension was at fever pitch between the two neighbourhoods and we were being called up to decide decades of differences. Not the best of games to intrude Joe Tyrell. He acquitted himself well in front of 45,818 less than neutral observers. The sun shone, the pitch was hard, the ball bounced about like a beach ball. Somehow Nicholls managed to control it sufficiently to prod it into over the line.

We were not going to let Albion equal our 1897 ‘double achievement’. 62 minutes and McParland earned himself the Freedom of Wolverhampton by lobbing the ball over Sanders. Nicholls was ruled offside. 1-1. I leapt aboard a bus going towards Handsworth with all the excitement of a teenager looking forward to tomorrow.

Easter Tuesday and with most off the nation back at their toil 57,899 journeyed to Witton to see if Albion could resurrect their chances of winning the double. As yesterday they opted to send out their expected cup final eleven. We will never know whether they had more or less given up on the league title and so decided not to take any undue risk. But surely they were not still relying on Huddersfield Town, who amazingly had beaten Wolves at the Molineux 4-1 on Easter Monday.

Events at Villa Park were nothing short of sensational as 57,899 can testify. It more than echoed events two seasons ago. Pace (2 & 9) Tyrell (23 & 29) Dixon (35) Griffin (43) Blanchflower (81) is all that needs to be said about this famous victory. It might have been more, many more. Just to rub it in Wolves reversed their result from the previous day and won 4-1 up north. Thanks to the Villa (did they ever thank us?) and a superior goal average Wolves were now champions whatever happened in game 42.

We still had to play games 41 and 42. And in one of those delightful coincidences we were to play both cup finalists at home within four days. Preston North End did not make the mistake of bringing their would-be cup final team. They did bring along Tommy Docherty but left Tom Finney and Charlie Wayman under wraps.

Tyrell staked a big claim to guarantee inclusion in the annual retained list by scoring the winning goal so when it came to going to Sheffield United to finish off the season we simply had to retain a winning side. Unfortunately it turned out to be a losing side which enabled Sheffield to survive for another season.

Final positions 1st Wolves 57pts 2nd Albion 53 pts 13th Villa 41 pts 21st Middlesbrough 30 pts 22nd Liverpool 28 pts.

No trip to Dublin this season, we went off to play three friendlies in Germany instead. Nuremburg (1-3) St. Pauli (3-2) Preussen (1-0).