Middlesboro ,Huddersfield and Fulham away 1980 ish

Huddersfield away, we were unbeaten in 20 or so matches, went to Town and lost in front of 29000 (of which at least 3,000 were Town fans ). Brilliant advert for what was the old third division, we even got a mention on Football Focus the week after.
Close to that was Middlesboro away in the FA Cup. This game reminds me of when the FA Cup WAS special, and even though we lost again, we ran them close, but ultimately Craig Johnston and David Armstrong pulled the strings. We were 2 down after 10 mins, I thought it was going to be an avalanche but Mike Lester pulled one back and the next 70 minutes was all about us pushing them to the limit.
Middlesboro had there biggest crowd since the war and it was estimated there were 20,000 Reds there that day.
I still have my ticket stub. £1.50.
We were at least promoted that season and the away game at Fulham when we beat them 3-2 with Glyn Riley I think playing most of the match in net summed up how resilient that team was.

 

Oh happy days indeed. The last team to be promoted from that division until..... our play-off heroes. I thought the official figure of Reds fans at Boro was about 13,000? Two special trains and 250 coaches??

 

'Middlesboro had there biggest crowd since the war and it was estimated there were 20,000 Reds there that day. '

Sorry my friend, time has tinted your spectacles a definite shade of 'Rose.' I was there - albeit a nipper - and we took around 7,000 that day. 5,000 were penned in one corner of the ground whilst the other 2,000 were scattered around the ground. Most in the opposite corner. I had the mis fortune to be in the opposete corner where the crowd trouble would have put the sh££s up me today never mind when I was 10 years old. Thta said, still a fantastci away following.

The atmosphere was both electric -= and hostile - and a fantastic game despite us losing. However, Middlesbro has got to be one of the most frightening and threatening grounds I have ever been to.