Greatest Games

In this, the third article with the “Sentinel’s” Vale correspondent, CHRIS HARPER, Mr. Sproson recalls some of his many games including the memorable F.A. Cup semi-final tie in 1954.

Having played 800 and more games for Port Vale, time has dulled my memory of the majority, but there are still a handful that I can recall as if they were only yesterday. My debut is not among them. Other than the fact that I was naturally nervous and that it was a fine day, I do not recall too much about that first appearance at Gillingham back in November, 1950.

What is clearer is my home debut the following week at Vale Park against Bournemouth. We won 3-1 and I missed a great scoring chance from a matter of yards. Also every throw I took seemed to be a foul, and I sustained an injury which kept me out for about five weeks.

Then there was my first League goal, scored against Torquay in a 1-1 draw. Alan Bennett crossed the ball from the left and I found the inside of the near post with a header. That was at the Hamil end.

Game in gale

Another goal I recall in the early days was against Oldham in the 1952/53 season. They became champions of the Third Division (North) that term and we finished runners-up. We won at Oldham and were held to a 1-1 draw at Vale Park.

I have played in all manner of weather and I will never forget a game at Scunthorpe which was played in a gale. The wind was so strong that it carried the roof off the stand and it took me three minutes to take a throw in. Every time I parted with the ball it kept coming back out of play.

We had many stirring F.A. Cup encounters, especially those on the way to the semi-finals in 1954. I remember going to Cardiff, then of the First Division, for a match that was doubtful because of the conditions. All the lads were nervous and conflicting reports reached us while we were in the snooker room at our hotel on the morning of the game. We sighed with relief when told the match was off; then fear returned when it was on. The pitch was hard and icy, was eventually declared fit and we won 2-0 in a tremendous battle.

I will always remember the duel between Tommy Cheadle and Cardiff’s Trevor Ford. Pound for pound they were probably the two hardest men I have known, yet they came off with a smile and handshake at the finish, battered and bruised having gone at each other hammer and tongs for 90 minutes! Then there was the reception afterwards when we reached Cardiff station. It was a sea of Vale faces. An incredible sight.

In the sixth round we travelled to Orient-or Leyton Orient in those days-and this was a terrible game to play in. Both teams were tense and nervous and, on a bumpy pitch, the ball was never still. It was whacked from end to end and one goal to us was enough to settle it.

Injury fear

The realisation that there we, a Third Division side, were in the semi-finals frightened us all a little. Nobody wanted to play before the big match for fear of being injured but we did not worry who we would meet, be it Preston, West Bromwich or Sheffield Wednesday. At the time, we did not know what it was to lose and the thought never occurred to us. We were convinced, in fact, that we could not be beaten.

The build-up to the game against West Bromwich at Villa Park was wonderful. Pressmen who previously had not probably even heard of Port Vale trained with us and camped on the doorstep. We had good luck letters from all over the world and the usual pleas for tickets.

When I read nowadays of players supposedly making fortunes out of selling tickets it makes me laugh because I must be the only player on record ever to lose money from an F.A. Cup semi-final. It happened like this.

In addition to my 2 complementaries, I bought a couple of 2s. 6d. tickets for friends. One of them failed to turn up so I lost the cash and still have the ticket at home to prove it. Furthermore, despite all the money the club must have made that day, we received nothing more than our basic wage.

We stayed overnight in a hotel in Droitwich and although we were naturally nervous, we were not as concerned as we were before the Leyton Orient tie. We were a big, strong, physical side and quickly settled down against Albion who, I believe, were top of the First Division at the time. We were a goal up early on and by half time we seriously thought the game was as good as over.

West Bromwich gave us no problems at all and it was a poor goal to concede which gave them an equaliser. Tommy Cheadle headed the ball away and it was lobbed back into the empty net. What really made us mad was the goal shortly afterwards which we had disallowed.

Colin Askey beat two men in a great run to the byeline before pulling the ball back for Albert Leake to crack home, and we protested strongly when the referee ruled Colin offside.

Bitter moment

It was a bitter moment and then came the controversial penalty which cost us the game. The incident happened behind me so I could not see it but on viewing the clip on film afterwards it looked as though Lee had taken a good three steps before falling into the box. Ronnie Allen, a former Vale player, of course, banged the spot kick into the net and we were out.

The Vale team went to Wembley to see the final between West Bromwich and Preston and we were convinced that we were better than both finalists.

It was the disallowed goal which upset us more than the penalty. We felt it had been deemed that a Third Division club would not play in the final at Wembley, almost as if it had been pre-conceived by the F.A.

Personally, I did not feel too bad about it. I quickly forgot about the game and the fact that we were Third Division champions was some consolation. We had gained promotion by Easter and clinched the championship well before the end of that remarkable season.

This article reproduced courtesy of The Sentinel