Ronnie Radford remembered
Sadly, Ronnie Radford died at the age of 79 last week. Many of our younger readers (by which I mean under 60) may have never heard of Ronnie. I have been trying to think of a goal I can remember more clearly from my entire life, and I’m not sure I can. I can remember the lunging tackle, the one-two with a
teammate and the cracking shot that whistled into the Newcastle net. I could, I think, pinpoint the exact square (or is it a hexagon?) in the netting that the shot hit.
So who was Ronnie Radford?
Ronnie Radford was the scorer of that goal for Hereford United, then a non-League side, which helped to put mighty Newcastle United out of the cup. It was the biggest FA Cup upset ever, and some say it was the best FA Cup goal ever. It was a screamer. After the goal, I can also remember Ronnie’s goal celebration. Non-League players used just to put their arms aloft and run, unlike today when goal celebrations are choreographed and practised endlessly in training sessions. Ronnie’s goal is often wrongly remembered as the winner, but it was the equaliser. Ricky George scored the winner in extra time. Radford and George? Yes, another famous Radford and George combined for a memorable Cup Final goal.
Is there a more memorable goal?
Geoff Hurst’s two goals in the 1966 World Cup are memorable, but I can’t remember the whole build-up or goal celebration like Ronnie’s. I can remember Chris Waddle’s penalty miss very clearly – I could draw the ball’s arc as it sailed into orbit. But, a more memorable goal? Maybe Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ goal would compete with Ronnie’s, but, hey, I am sure Ronnie never thought of himself as being on a par with Maradona. Anyhow, it’s farewell to Ronnie, a goalscorer that I will never forget. If you have never seen the goal, take a look at this.
It’s a long way to Truro City
I wondered if the players of North Leigh sang It’s a long way to Tipperary on the way back home on Saturday. Indeed, replacing Tipperary with Truro 
City works very nicely in the song. North Leigh returned from the Cornish peninsula having suffered a 6-0 defeat in front of 154 spectators in the Southern League Premier South Division. Truro’s scorers look like an order for building work – Tyler Harvey, Rocky Neal and Matt Wright – nothing beats a Matt finish, as Truro fans say. Indeed, the two clubs are at opposite ends of the table. However, there’s no papering over the cracks – North Leigh’s defence needs to tighten up. It’s time to put a frieze on these comments, though.
Hats off to the non-League FA Cup victors
Five non-League sides defeated Football League opponents in the weekend’s FA Cup 1st Round Proper ties. Will we find the next Ronnie Radford when the competition gets to the 3rd Round? Alvechurch won away to League One opposition at Cheltenham Town 2-1. If you get Cheltenham and Chippenham confused (I did once for a business meeting), Chippenham Town also came up trumps with a 1-0 win over Lincoln City from League One. Three other sides managed to beat League Two opposition. They were: Farnborough with a 2-0 win at Sutton United, Chesterfield beat Northampton Town 1-0, and King’s Lynn Town nabbed a late goal at Doncaster Rovers to win 1-0. Hats off to all five as they now go into the hat for the 2nd Round Proper.
Ugly website
Jason Anonymous has been a regular correspondent for over a year. This week he wrote to complain that the website looked “ugly” because the 2022-23 FA Trophy trails had not been updated. Of course, this has now been fixed, and a young trainee now has a P45 for his error. Jason went on to say that he
found the ‘Coals to Newcastle’ pun last week, the best pun ever. Well, it’s good to please, although Jason dampened things by adding, “…it was worthy of the Edinburgh Festival, where there are always some terrible puns”.
Not masking disappointment
Marske United were leading Atherton Collieries 2-1 in the North Premier League Premier Division (two Premiers always look wrong) as they entered stoppage time. Goals from Scott Bakkor and Jay Fitzmartin turned the result on its head as Atherton Collieries scored two goals to come away with a 3-2 victory. I am sure the Atherton Collieries manager, Brad Cooke, who was interviewed after the game, said, “we had to dig deep today”. Time to disappear, I think.
