29th January 1977.

[leefer]

Was fourth round FA Cup day and Swindon v Everton.

As a young lad it was one of those matches that sticks in my mind so clearly,the Everton fans masses of them,many up the floodlights...the pace of the Everton team was an eye opener to me.
It was the match of the famous Kenny Stroud thunderbolt that won many goal of the season awards.
The teams that day were

Swindon

Allan
Dixon
Trollope
Stroud
Aizlewood
Prophett
Moss
Mclaughlin
Syrett
Mchale
Anderson

Subs The Don and Taylor...for Everton

Lawson
Robinson
Jones
Lyons
Mcnaught
Rioch
King
Dobson
Latchford
Mckenzie
Goodlass..

Can remember the game vividly.
Andy King had just won an under 21 cap according to the program which leads me to something in the program that made me smile and i quote,one more reference to our last cup meeting v Everton(a 5-1 home defeat in front of 26000 in 1961)was the unpleasant nature of some of the Everton fans,many Town supporters had money and wallets stolen that day you have been warned!

The match ended 2-2 and i had a day off school for the replay where two late goals beat us(again)after a fine away performance..can remember that night away being an electric atmosphere and the noise on a decibell i hadnt heard before.

On a final note our team pic had Geoff Chalklin,Tony Taylor and Gerry o'Brien who i cannot remember anything about.
Remember Howard Goddard being a hit/miss exiting player abit like Christian Roberts.
 

[alanmayes]

I was lucky enough to be in line with Kenny Stroud, when he hit that goal of the season.

Dave Jones the Cardiff manager was the Everton left back that day.

Great atmosphere in the CG and played on that beach of a pitch.

Howard Goddard was Dave Syrett's best mate and signed for us when he was surprisingly
released by Bournemouth.The analogy with Christian Roberts is a very good one.

Roger Malone the commentator...

[leefer]

What was the crowd that day Alan,should know but it has gone in the midsts of time

[Dazzza]

What a scortcher from Stroud, cracking quality clip as well.
 

[OOH! SHAUN TAYLOR]

Great stuff. Remember watching the highlights on 'The Big Match'.

Great goal, great game.

And what a pitch...more sand than the beach at Weston-Super-Mare

[alanmayes]

What was the crowd that day Alan,should know but it has gone in the midsts of time

Officially 24K but a lot of Everton fans arrived without tickets and still got in,the cheeky scally's  

The CG was so full that before the kick off a lot of fans stood behind the dugouts,where the
Arkells's enclosure now is.The ref wouldn't let the game start, until they got back into the stands.

[alanmayes]

The 3rd Round replay against Fulham at the CG was pretty special.

23K under lights and beating a Fulham side 5-0, with Bobby Moore,Rodney Marsh and George Best.

Mossy was on fire that night,probably his most memorable game, along with his hat-trick against
the scum the following year.

[leefer]

Remember that match well,i seem to remember Best hitting the bar early on which could have changed the game.
Also us being 3-1 up in the away tie to nearly throw it away drawing 3-3.
Moss was another player who could have played for England with his dribbling and crossing skills...a great player.

[TheDukeOfBanbury]

One of my all time greatest games.

I got crushed in the Town End (in my Parka) and watched the game from the North Stand.
The goal was a gem.

The Town End was packed and Duncan McKenzie was given stick all game. Just imagine a Town End like that again.............

[Ardiles]

Officially 24K but a lot of Everton fans arrived without tickets and still got in,the cheeky scally's 

The CG was so full that before the kick off a lot of fans stood behind the dugouts,where the
Arkells's enclosure now is.The ref wouldn't let the game start, until they got back into the stands.

So how did we go from that to lows of 3,000 odd five years later in the dark days of the early 1980s?  Before my time, but I'd be interested to know.

[leefer]

Well we were only getting low crowds the season this match was played,Everton were a great team then and the match just caught the imagination of the town,Everton brought along about 6000 also.
If we held 25000 today and drew Man Utd we would fill the County Ground,so was a similar scenario that day.

[TheDukeOfBanbury]

So how did we go from that to lows of 3,000 odd five years later in the dark days of the early 1980s?  Before my time, but I'd be interested to know.

Always amazes me. However the same can be said when we take 30,000 plus for big games at Wembley and can get 13,000 for big league games. We have to get a new generation of Supporters attending. Apathy around Swindon is evident and our fanbase has large numbers from surrounding areas.
Lots of my old Mates no longer go however many still do and a new generation of their kids are coming along. My eldest lad stopped going this season but will start going again next season with his young brother who will be "forced" next season. The trouble is have to behave more when they are around.

[leefer]

Fact is with standing the Atmosphere was better and you got more fans into the ground,very rarely a sell out like matches are today for safety reasons,it was very unsafe in the ground and that was part of the attraction.

[Peter Venkman]

So how did we go from that to lows of 3,000 odd five years later in the dark days of the early 1980s?  Before my time, but I'd be interested to know.

The dark days of the early 80s we had an untested and pretty crap manager who didnt play attacking football very often (Ken Beamish) and we finished in our lowest position ever in the 4th division.

The season before when we had Rideout at the club we were getting 5 to 6k ish most weeks, only near the end of the season did we get lower and then the year after Beamish left a certain Lou Macari came in and the crowds started to pick up again on the wave of Lowndes Lambert financing of us.

[cheltred69]

Great memories!

I was also right behind Stroud's belter in the Town End that day.
The Fulham game was amazing to see Moore, Best and Marsh at CG and for us to win so soundly.

Also remember a cup replay against West Ham one evening around this period where the Town End was suffocatingly packed, though official crowd only about 26K I think -unfortunately we lost that game.