Matt Healey goes back in time with a look at a famous two legged League Cup win for Hereford United over West Brom which took place 30 years ago. It would be the only competitive fixtures between the two sides.
After some fairly hard seasons to watch. Hereford United supporters had started the 1994/1995 campaign with plenty of optimism. Former player Darren Peacock had been sold from QPR to Newcastle United for nearly ยฃ2.7 million and with club Chairman the late Peter Hill shrewdly negotiating a sell on fee Hereford United would have a substantial cash injection. into the bank account. In July 1994 Central News South interviewed manager Greg Downs and the below footage shows him excited about the upcoming season.
With the Peacock windfall available, Player Manager Greg Downs had significantly adjusted his squad that summer, the likes of Colin Anderson, Dave Morris, Max Nicholson, Gareth Abraham, Derek Hall, Owen Pickard and Alan Judge had departed, and the new arrivals at Edgar Street that summer included Tony Pennock, Dean Smith, Mike Gonzague, Nicky Cross, Gary Pick, Tony James and Richard Wilkins amongst others.
The 1994/1995 team photograph is shown below.
The League Cup was then known as the Coca Cola Cup and Hereford were paired with West Brom in the 1st round. Back then ties would be played over two legs and higher level teams would take the competition seriously.
To put the gulf between the two side into context Hereford were then in the old Division Three which is now League Two, and West Brom were in the old First Division which is now known as The Championship. So it was a gap of two divisions.
Hereford’s top scorer from the previous campaign Chris Pike missed the start of the season with illness, so right back Howard Clark played up front alongside Nicky Cross on the opening day 1-0 defeat to Doncaster Rovers.
With a makeshift attack Hereford were lacking a bit of firepower up front, so first year professional Chris Williams would start up front with Cross for the West Brom game. Williams was originally from South Wales and had made his debut towards the end of the previous season. He was part of the successful YTS team under John Layton, but after this game he would only appear once more for The Bulls, and subsequently fell by the wayside after being released by the club at the end of the campaign.
In front of a crowd of 5,425 swelled by around 2,500 visiting supporters who took up the whole of the now demolished Blackfriars Terrace. Hereford would draw 0-0 with The Baggies at Edgar Street in the 1st leg. The Bulls also had the disadvantage of being handicapped most of the game by having 10 men as winger Tim Steele was sent off for an off the ball incident midway through the first half.
Gareth Davies (Pictured below) played in the 1st leg and was in a midfield role, he told Your Herefordshire “We won the tie in my opinion during the 1st match, earning a draw at Edgar Street put all the pressure on West Brom, we had a really good squad and probably underachieved in the league, but we seemed to raise our game in the cup ties, in my three years as a professional at Hereford it was the best team I played in, we had plenty of experience and the younger lads like myself would do a lot of the running for the older players. I was doing a man to man marking job on Kevin Donovan and kept him in check”
Greg Downs (Pictured below) was a former winner of the FA Cup with Coventry City in 1987, he was now the Hereford United Player Manager, he joined the club in 1991 from Birmingham City as player coach to assist then manager the late John Sillett, and when Sillett packed it in during the spring of 1992 he took sole charge of team affairs.
He told Your Herefordshire “I had changed the squad around that summer and I think it was around nine new players, and West Brom at home was our 2nd game of the season. we huffed and puffed and gave a good account of ourselves, even though I was a defender I wanted the players to attack and express themselves and we tried to play attractive football”
The Grorty Dick fanzine of West Brom were the match sponsors of the game at Edgar Street commented at the time “That the Albion players should troop off at the final whistle without acknowledging the heavy in numbers away following was not surprising, our inability to get hold of the game was reflected by the fact Hereford gained nine corners to our five, and it was thoroughly uninspiring stuff”
Despite West Brom striker and future Premier League player Bob Taylor nearly smashing the crossbar in half with a powerful shot midway through the 2nd half. It was a spirited performance by the home side and Hereford nearly won it at the end with a diving header from man of the match Tony James (Pictured below)
James was an absolute colossus at the back for Hereford and it would be fair to say if it wasn’t for his injuries he wouldn’t have been at the club as he was way too good for Division Three. James had previously played for Leicester City and was a cult hero there for scoring a famous goal to save the club from relegation a few years earlier, but injury problems plagued him and he was released from Filbert Street.
Sadly his two years at Edgar Street would see James still beset by the injuries that would curtail his career at a young age, he never played for Hereford at all during 1995 and he only made 35 league appearances during his two years as a Hereford United player, but when he did perform he was a class act and formed a formidable partnership with future Aston Villa manager Dean Smith at the centre of Hereford’s defence.
You can watch the match highlights below of the 1st leg at Edgar Street
Hereford had made a poor start to the 1994/1995 season Endsleigh League Division Three season and earnt just a solitary point from the first four games. To try and combat this a couple of players were added to the squad at the end of August in winger Tony Pounder and former Swindon Town striker Steve White.
Pounder and White were immediately thrown into the first team and a 3-1 win away at Rochdale in the league on the 3rd September would give the team confidence going into the West Brom cup tie.
Greg Downs told us “Nicky Cross was my secret agent in the game at the Hawthorns, I had signed him that summer from Port Vale, he was a former West Brom legend and played for them in the top flight in the mid 1980’s. I gave him a bit of a free role in the 2nd leg, we also didn’t have a regular left back available, so I put young Phil Preedy in that position”
Phil Preedy (Pictured below) was a Ledbury lad who had come through the ranks at Edgar Street and made his debut the previous season as a YTS player, this was his first year as a professional. He told us “I loved both games, superb atmosphere in both legs. Greg (Downs) had been a former left back and anybody will tell you I cant defend to save my life, but Greg taught me to play at the back and said I would thrive in the position. We had a good squad, we had a fantastic pre season and we trained at the old SAS camp and had a tour of Scotland. Even though our league form hadn’t been great, we went to West Brom with nothing to lose or fear”
Midfielder Gary Pick (pictured below) had signed for Hereford United from Stoke City and found himself back in the starting line up at Rochdale and retained his place for the West Brom game four days later. He remembers the night at the Hawthorns fondly and told Your Herefordshire โWe played so well, my best mate as a kid is Carl Heggs, we are both Leicester lads and he played for West Brom that evening. I so badly wanted to beat them, people say that Andy Hunt and Bob Taylor didn’t play the 2nd leg and they were the main players, but the likes of Mike Phelan, Kevin Donovan and Lee Ashcroft were in their team. Phelan had been part of the Manchester United squad that won the Premier League a year earlier and he had played enough games to get a winners medal”
Hereford would earn a famous win with a solitary goal from Steve White โIt was one of my better goals, I curled it into the cornerโ White told Your Herefordshire.
Greg Downs added “I still cannot believe I managed to sign Steve White, he always scored goals where ever he played and was a brilliant signing for the club, we also had Richard Wilkins in the team who was like a Rolls Royce in midfield. There were a lot of rumours that I overspent on players and put the club in a financial mess, but the wage bill was the same as the previous campaign and we managed to bring in some real quality to the club, I made the club money too, Tony James is a prime example, he came in on a free transfer and the club later got ยฃ60,000 for him from Plymouth Argyle, Richard Wilkins was a free signing for me and he later went to Colchester United for ยฃ30,000.
White had been playing in the Premier League the previous season for Swindon Town and “Chalkie” as he was affectionately known would go on to score plenty of goals for the team the next two seasons.
I asked Steve White (Pictured below) how the move to Edgar Street came about. โI had a look around the area and met with the Manager (Greg Downs) and Chairman (Peter Hill) they sold it to me over dinner, Greg was smoking a cigar with a pint of bitter and I thought this is a friendly football clubโฆ. I had an opportunity to go to Plymouth Argyle with Peter Shilton, but geographically as I was living in Bristol the easier thing was to join Hereford, they offered me a two year contract with favourable terms, but the over riding factor was the friendless of the club”
Phil Preedy added “Chalkie was absolutely brilliant, it was a superbly taken goal. I remember I got injured in the game as I took a whack to my thigh and Gareth Davies replaced me but it was a fantastic night for the supporters and we played Nottingham Forest in the next round, Tony Pounder was a bit of a hero as he cleared one off the line near the end”
You can watch the match highlights below of the game at The Hawthorns.
Simon Wright from the West Brom fanzine Grorty Dick gave his thoughts at the time “Hereford deserved their victory. Their response to injuries was to sign a forward in Steve White. Hereford should have scored more and they were backed by a noisy support of around 1,000 fans”
The players enjoyed the celebrations that evening as Hereford pulled off a shock win in front of a total attendance of 10,076 supporters at The Hawthorns. Gareth Davies was extremely proud “The Hereford faithful were extremely loud and were like the 12th man that night, as a player I loved playing under the floodlights as the atmosphere was so much better, we didn’t really get much chance to celebrate, I think we had the day off the next day, and then it was back to the league on the Saturday”
Gary Pick added “There were loads of Hereford fans in the corner of the stadium, there was pouring rain most of the night. I remember me and Dean Smith going right over to our fans and clapping them all, they were brilliant times and it was a night to remember”
Sadly manager Greg Downs would be sacked a week later after earning just a point from the following two league games.
Downs told us โPrior to the Peacock money coming in I was having to work with free transfers and no signing on fees, Prior to that I had the lowest wage bill in the Football League. I signed Dean Smith from Walsall for a club record ยฃ75,000, he was a natural leader and its no surprise he has gone on to become a great manager, we then go and beat West Brom in the League Cup, so more money came into the coffers as we had two legs guaranteed against Nottingham Forest who were a big Premier League club then”
Downs continued “We played Wigan on the Saturday and went 1-0 up. I remember telling my assistant John Layton we needed to get a second goal pretty quick, we had put so much into the game three days earlier against West Brom, we tired and lost 2-1, we then played Torquay who were top of the league on the next Tuesday night”
Downs added “We were 1-0 up and hanging on, then near the end a lad called Gregory Goodridge equalised for them and we drew 1-1, back then we could only use two substitutes. Squads were small then, whereas now you can name seven subs and bring on five”
Downs was dismissed the following day after the Torquay draw โI saw the Managing Director (Robin Fry) and he said bye bye. I was disappointed and upset, I had put my life and soul into the job for the previous two and a bit years and the squad needed more time to gel. I then played part time in the non league circuit for a few years for the likes of Kettering, Raunds and Malvern Town. In fact one of my most enjoyable seasons was when I was at Merthyr Tydfil I was 39 and won player of the year down there, Colin Addison the former Hereford United legend was the manager at the time and we played some brilliant football. I then later moved back to Norfolk and became a police officer, I retire from the force in two months timeโ
Seven days can be a long time in football…..
*Photos provided by MH Archive & Ron Parrott
๐๐๐ซ๐๐๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐๐ ๐-๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ – ๐๐๐ญ๐ก ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐๐๐
๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ฉ๐ฌ – ๐๐๐ซ๐๐๐จ๐ซ๐ – ๐ ๐๐๐ง๐ง๐จ๐๐ค ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ซ๐๐๐๐ฒ ๐ ๐๐๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ฌ ๐ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ ๐๐๐ฆ๐๐ฌ ๐ ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ฌ ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฐ๐ง๐ฌ ๐ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ฆ๐ฌ ๐๐ ๐๐ญ๐๐๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ข๐๐ค, ๐๐ฅ๐๐ซ๐ค
๐๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ – ๐ ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฅ๐จ๐ซ ๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐ฅ๐๐ฒ ๐ ๐๐๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐๐ฌ ๐ ๐๐ก๐๐ฅ๐๐ง ๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐๐๐ซ๐ญ ๐ ๐๐๐ฏ๐๐ง ๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ง ๐ ๐๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ญ๐จ๐ง ๐ ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฅ๐จ๐ซ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ฌ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐จ๐ง
๐๐ญ๐ญ๐๐ง๐๐๐ง๐๐ ๐,๐๐๐
๐๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐-๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐๐๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐๐ – ๐๐ญ๐ก ๐๐๐ฉ๐ญ๐๐ฆ๐๐๐ซ ๐๐๐๐
๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ฉ๐ฌ – ๐๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ -๐ ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฅ๐จ๐ซ ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐ญ๐จ๐ง ๐ ๐๐ก๐๐ฅ๐๐ง ๐ ๐๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐๐๐๐ซ ๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐๐๐ซ๐ญ ๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐จ๐ง ๐ ๐๐ฌ๐ก๐๐ซ๐จ๐๐ญ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ฌ ๐๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ง ๐๐ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ก
๐๐๐ซ๐๐๐จ๐ซ๐ – ๐ ๐๐๐ง๐ง๐จ๐๐ค ๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐ซ๐ค ๐ ๐๐ซ๐๐๐๐ฒ ๐ ๐๐ข๐๐ค ๐ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ ๐๐๐ฆ๐๐ฌ ๐ ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ฌ ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐๐ซ ๐ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐๐ ๐๐ก๐ข๐ญ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ค๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐๐๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ฌ
๐๐ญ๐ญ๐๐ง๐๐๐ง๐๐ ๐๐,๐๐๐
Hereford would face Premier League Nottingham Forest in the next round who had the likes of international players Stan Collymore, Stuart Pearce, Mark Crossley and Bryan Roy in their team. Hereford would go out 2-1 on aggregate over the two legs and ended the season in 16th position.
Thank you to Greg Downs, Gareth Davies, Gary Pick, Phil Preedy, Steve White & Simon Wright for their time and contribution for this article
