West Auckland Town       3          Briggs 20, Storey 50, Broomfield 75

Erith & Belvedere               0         

FA Amateur Cup 2nd round, 25 January 1958

 

Continuing the series counting down the 100 most memorable games in our history.  Today, an Amateur Cup expedition to the chilly north-east and a sound beating.

 

1957-58 was a season of mid-table comfort in the Corinthian League, but once again the winter brought the excitement of the Amateur Cup.  A feature of this period was the loss of players to National Service, but a first-choice team had beaten Romford 3‑1 in the first round on 11 January to set up another of those epic trips to the north-east, which was as strong a region then in terms of Amateur Cup contenders as it is for the FA Vase now.  And again Deres came back with their tails between their legs.

 

WONDERFUL SHOW BY ALEC REITH – Conditions upset Deres at West Auckland

 

Once again Erith and Belvedere have lost interest in the FA Amateur Cup, and again on a visit to South-East Durham, where on Saturday they were beaten 3-0 by West Auckland in the second round.

 

Since the war they have visited such stalwarts as Bishop Auckland, Crook and Billingham and figured on the losing side, but it was rather expected that on their trip to West Auckland, one of the “smaller fry” of the Northern League, that they might manage to report progress.

 

It was not to be, however, and Erith can only be described as a very disappointing side.  They were triers, always attempting to make a fight of it, but their tactics of attempting to play football were of no avail.

 

There was an abundant reason for this and the Kent side are to be commiserated with in the severe arctic conditions they faced.  Conditions were bad enough up to Friday night, but Saturday morning’s snowstorm considerably added to the difficulties.  Officials and supporters worked strenuously to remove the top snow in order to make the game possible and save Erith the cost of a double journey.

 

The voluntary works, who were joined by women helpers, made the most of the conditions, but still the pitch was snowbound with numerous iced patches, and it was these conditions which practically put Erith out of action.

 

They were certainly the worst conditions they have faced and they were quite unable to counteract the play of West Auckland, who had more experience of the state of the pitch.  Erith floundered so much that they were ineffective, and the highlight of the game was a wonderful display by Alec Reith.  Time and again Reith stood between Erith and a much heavier defeat, while the West Auckland goalkeeper, Gaines, only touched the ball on a dozen occasions.

 

From the start West Auckland took command and there was never any doubt about the issue.  Dickie Briggs, West Auckland’s outside-left, who has gained a reputation for scoring directly from corner kicks, produced one of his noted efforts in the 20th minute, when Reith was crowded out and the ball went into the corner of the net.

 

Soon after half-time outside-right Storey scored No 2 and the scoring was completed in the 75th minute when Broomfield, one of West Auckland’s star forwards at inside-left, flicked the ball into the net.

 

That was the end of the scoring, but not of the determined efforts of the rampant West Auckland forwards.

 

The game was not a profitable one for the Kent club.  The attendance barely totalled 1000, which would hardly meet the heavy expenses of the journey.

 

Two bus loads of Erith supporters made the long journey overnight, but they had not much to enthuse over, and as one loyal supporter put it, his favourites did not warrant a lone cheer.

 

Erith and Belvedere: Alec Reith; Dennis Bower, Ray Attree; Joe Graimes, Joe Hurlock, Ray Danks; John Carey, Kerry Boland, Paul Sheckles, Ricky Morris, Alan Williams.

 

 

The official attendance in fact was a disappointing 740, hit by the weather and a more glamorous tie – Bishop Auckland v Tooting and Mitcham – a short distance away.  Those Deres supporters had an all-night coach journey and mucked in to clear six inches of snow off the pitch, so were perhaps entitled to be disappointed with the performance!  (The team had stayed overnight in Darlington.)  The Munich air disaster took place 12 days later during that bleak winter.

 

The win didn’t do West Auckland much good – in the next round they went out 3-2 at Wokingham.  Wokingham lost 3-2 at Crook Town in the quarter-final, and Crook lost 1-0 to Ilford in the semi-final at Roker Park.  Then on 12 April Ilford lost 3-0 to Woking in the final at Wembley.

 

Deres went on to finish 9th out of 15 in the Corinthian League, and possibly the highlight of the rest of the season was director Len O’Connell’s son Larry winning the SE London ABA lightweight title at Eltham Baths on 10 March.  Four days later a gig by Buddy Holly and the Crickets brought music fans flocking to Woolwich Granada. Among them was a 15-year-old Dartford schoolboy named Mike Jagger.