Simon Weatherill remembers the home League Cup derby against York City on 13^th August 1969 in today’s Memory Match.

The 1969/70 season kicked off with everyone at Feethams full of optimism. Darlington had narrowly missed out on promotion in the previous season. After being top of the Division 4 table for large chunks of the season they eventually missed out with a final day defeat by Bradford City. Manager Ray Yeoman had managed to keep the majority of the (almost) successful squad together and had made two experienced signings in the summer, so hopes were high that he could steer the club to success in the forthcoming campaign. He’d signed Billy Horner from Middlesbrough and brought back former Feethams favourite Bobby Baxter from Torquay. Horner had made over 180 appearances for Boro and would bring added experience to the half back line. Baxter had previously played for Darlington in the early sixties, before securing a transfer to Brighton. He’d spent eight seasons on the South coast with Brighton and later Torquay but had now moved back to his native North East. He’d been a prolific goal scorer in his previous spell (32 goals in 73 appearances) but during his time on the South coast he’d reinvented himself as a left full back.

The new season kicked off with a home game against Southend United, which ended with a disappointing and frustrating 2-0 defeat for the Quakers. Two goals in the first fifteen minutes settled the match and left Yeoman promising changes for the League Cup tie with York City, which would take place at Feethams on the following Wednesday night. In the event, Yeoman was to make only one change to his starting eleven, but it was a big surprise. Club captain Ken Hale, an almost ever present in the previous season with 50 appearances to his credit was dropped, and his place at inside left would be taken by Alan Sproates, who had been substitute against Southend. Local youngster Peter Carr would replace Sproates on the bench. York City named an unchanged side after their opening day win at Newport County. Winger Mick Mahon had scored both goals in a 2-1 win.

A crowd of 3953 turned out at Feethams for the York game. They saw the Quakers make a strong start to the game, determined to put right their failings from the previous Saturday. For the opening half an hour Darlington kept City pressed back in their own half and Terry Melling, twice, Alan Sproates and Billy Horner each saw stinging shots fly just over. Melling also rattled the bar with a great header from a Mick Wright free kick, and then struck the woodwork again with a shot from ten yards. The constant pressure finally told in the 32nd minute as the Quakers grabbed a deserved lead. Melling and Horner combined well in the build up before Horner beat two men down the left and slipped the ball inside to Les O’Neill. He advanced a couple of paces into the box before firing past visiting keeper Mick Gadsby for the Quakers’ first goal of the season. Five minutes later O’Neill scored his second when he intercepted a loose back pass by City full back Bobby Sibbald, and drove the ball past the stranded Gadsby. Little was seen of the visitors attack as they were restricted to occasional counter attacks, but these were comfortably broken up by strong tackling by Brian Albeson and Joe Jacques, who had been made captain for the evening. Five minutes into the second half Allan Gauden started and finished the move that brought the Quakers their third goal. He beat two men and passed inside to Melling, who switched the ball out wide to Harry Kirk. His cross into the middle received the slightest of touches from O’Neill, which wrong footed the keeper and Gauden slid the ball home at the far post. The attacking play continued and Melling went close with two more headers just over the bar, then seemed certain to score with a shot that was deflected wide by Gauden, trying to add the final touch in front of an open goal. The Quakers could even afford the luxury of two missed penalties in the last twenty minutes as they coasted to a comfortable victory. Jackson felled Horner just inside the area but Gauden fired the penalty within reach of Gadsby who made a good save. Two minutes from time O’Neill was pushed off the ball in the box when he looked set to score and Gauden, after being persuaded to try again by skipper Jacques, saw his second penalty again saved by Gadsby, who pushed the ball onto the bar and to safety.

Darlington’s reward for their 3-0 victory was discovered on the following lunchtime when the draw gave them the plum tie of the second round with a home game against Everton. The Toffees had started the season in majestic form and by the time they visited Feethams on September 3rd they sat top of the Football League with six wins and one draw from their seven games so far. The top team in the country at the time played a full strength team for the tie (no such thing as squad rotation in those days) and included World Cup winner Alan Ball, along with several other big name stars such as Joe Royle, Howard Kendall, Colin Harvey and Brian Labone. A disappointing crowd of 13,924 saw Everton scrape through with a one goal win, courtesy of a second half Alan Ball header. It was a hard fought victory in a game that could have gone either way. The Quakers gave as good as they got and were always in with a chance. Terry Melling had three efforts cleared off the line by Everton defenders and his strike partner Lance Robson came close to forcing a replay with a late chance but blazed over the bar when well placed.

It proved to be a disastrous week for the other North East teams as well, as all five teams from the region went out of the competition at the second round stage. Newcastle were beaten 2-0 at Sheffield United, Middlesbrough went down 1-0 at Manchester United, Hartlepool were beaten 3-1 at home by Derby County in front of a crowd of 7,700 and Sunderland lost 2-1 at home to Bradford City in front of a Roker Park crowd of 10,909. (Perhaps the Feethams crowd wasn’t too bad after all.)    

The programme for the 1969/70 season cost 9d and consisted of 16 pages, of which more than half were adverts. The front cover featured a rather crude cartoon drawing of three players and was printed in various colours. (White, green, yellow, pink or blue.) The programme comprised of an editorial piece, an action photo of a previous match, half time scoreboard, a star spot, pen pictures of the opposition, fixtures, results and tables for first team and reserves, appearances, goal scorers and attendances for the current season along with today’s team line ups on the centre pages.

Team v York City : 1 Tony Moor 2 Mick Wright 3 Bobby Baxter 4 Billy Horner 5 Brian Albeson 6 Joe Jacques 7 Allan Gauden 8 Les O’Neill 9 Terry Melling 10 Alan Sproates 11 Harry Kirk Sub Peter Carr (not used).