GIANT-KILLING CANARIES

SAM TODD RECALLS WHEN NORWICH CITY ENJOYED A SENSATIONAL FA CUP RUN 65 YEARS AGO...

- SAM TODD

TT WAS an FA Cup fourth round to forget for East Anglian clubs as Ipswich Town currently pushing for promotion to the Premier League - lost 2-1 at home to sixth-tier Maidstone United while Norwich City went down 5-2 at Liverpool on the first leg of the Jurgen Klopp farewell tour.

However, there was a time 65 years ago when Norwich, rather than residing in the top two divisions as they have done for much of the last six decades, were in similar giant-killing shoes to the ones Maidstone wore at Portman Road.

Going into the 1958-59 edition of the world's oldest domestic cup competition, the Canaries were Third Division strugglers who, since their elevation from the Southern League in 1920, had been forced to apply for Football League re-election on four occasions - the last being in 1957 when they finished bottom of a Division Three South that local rivals Ipswich, under Alf Ramsey's management, had won.

Throw in financial difficulties severe enough for a rescue act by a new board led by Geoffrey Watling and a £25,000 public appeal fund chaired by the Lord Mayor of Norwich, Arthur South, and you could say a good cup run was important if not essential.

Sure enough, after a 3-1 win over amateurs Ilford and a 1-0 replay victory against Swindon Town, Norwich were drawn at home in the third round to Manchester United still rebuilding after the Munich air disaster 11 months earlier, but arriving in Norfolk on an eight-game winning run in Division One and destined to finish the season as runners-up to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Heavy snow the night before the January 10, 1959 tie meant the Carrow Road pitch resembled Lapland, and the Norwich-supporting element of the 38,000 crowd must have thought all their Christmases had come at once when Bobby Brennan’s pull-back was hammered home by Terry Bly after 31 minutes.