I've been to Reading twice, the first time

[Zilzal]

Villa, as you say 3-1 and that was one of my favourite games ever.

7 minutes gone and a rare and terrible error by Gerry Forrest letting a high ball bounce under his foot. Supermac aka Harold MacMillan seized on the mistake and headed for goal. I thought he'd use that famed left foot of his and smash the ball home but he didn't need to, as Frank Stapleton had come up in support. A tap from Mac followed by Frank tapping the ball into an empty net. Worst possible start as they had the magnificent legend that was Pat Jennings in goal, Liam Brady and Graham Rix in midfield, David O'Leary captaining at CB with MAc and Frank up front with Alan Sunderland, Pat Rice at RB and so on.

In those days all teams took the League Cup seriously as you'll know Villa, hence their awesome line up. They'll kill us - or will they? A corner on the left and Gwyther heads home. Then a free kick on the left in midfield and John Green soard to head in at the Tivoli end. 2-1 at half time.

I thought they'

[kempo]

Interesting that nobody questioned the Harold McMillan bit..maybe it's an age thing!

[mikemiller]

Great game Millers v Man City - replay in the FA Cup Round 3 17/01/79 (after we had drawn 0-0 at Maine Road) . Even though we lost, I remember it as an "end to end" match, with the final score 2-4 being flattering to Man. City . Johnny Breckin and Greeny scored (according to "Now we are United" by G. Somerton), although I can remember Gwyther having at least one goal disallowed, and was denied by great goalkeeping on several occasions. He was really fired up that night, and constantly put the Man. City defence under pressure. Great atmosphere at the match, with a crowd of 13748 in Millmoor.

Because I was travelling a long distance on the day, I arrived just a few minutes before the kick-off and the programmes were sold out, By a bit of luck, a few weeks ago I managed to get a copy of the programme, on Rotherham bric-a-brac market for a quid - it brought back many happy memories.

Compare recent Millers FA Cup Round 3 game at Leeds - we had two weak shots on target i

[kempo]

Only reason it seemed a great game is that we were 3 -0 down and got back to 3-2

Myself , Zilzal and IBS were all sitting in the same seat.

[jolly_roger]

The 4-2 defeat in the original thread, was that the league game in 1971 or the league cup game in 1974 ??

[mikemiller]

Ray Mielczarek debut game was on 30/01/71

[jolly_roger]

Thanks

[Zilzal]

Jolly, the 2-4 defeat to Man City was in the league cup.

Frank and Mike are two of my favourite reads on here...and therefore it pains me greatly to have to pick them up on anything, especially matters concerning RUFC. With regard to the 3-0 home win against Bury. I distinctly remember Trev's two exquisite long range shots into the Railway End goal and when we got the third the lovely S had forgotten all about Everton and was now a future Millmoor denizen in the making. So enamoured was she of Trev and the boys that she asked me who scored our third. I confess I answered (with a soupcon of disappointment) that it was an own goal. Apart from Crawford's annus mirabilis when we were awarded 14 penalties (13 converted) we don't get many penalties, even to this day. We also don't get many own goals either and thus my slight disappointment. We were in absolute cruise control against Bury that evening and didn't need an O.G. Better to get one when we were in desperate need (though Frank is

[Casper64Frank]

Good post Zil.
You ought to have been working in the media....oops what have I said.
I can only remember certain incidents from different games.
Colin Clish scoring from his own half when the ball took a fortunate bounce and looped over the goalkeeper, Clish when he broke his leg v Burnley, Rod Fern scoring at the Railway End v Plymouth a promotion season to mention but a few. Happy Days.
I thought Gwyther signed in 76 season the same season we beat Wednesday 3-1but I will take your word he wasn't on the premises or in the team at S6 in 76
My memory is not too bad but on quite a few occasions I can't for the life of me remember where I put my reading glasses when all along they're hanging round my neck on a chain.

Did you marry your posh sweetheart from Formby ?
Edit: 3-1 win at S6 was 1976 not 1978....I think???

[mikemiller]

Zil - I've just found the programme from the Man. City match in 1979 and am looking at it now. It definitely was an FA Cup Round 3 replay game. We had knocked out Barnsley in the previous round (Drew 1-1 at Oakwell, then beat them 2-1 in the replay). What might be tricking the memory is that (I seem to remember) on the night , the weather was unusually mild for January and the match was played in conditions that were more typical of an early season League Cup match.