1974/75 season………
We had already played Birmingham home and away, we won comfortably in both games 3-0, so drawing them in the cup was great, I was certain Wembley glory beckoned as the cup route looked straightforward, lots of the big boys gone, the cup was ours……… The atmosphere was intimidating, the area a dump, the ground a bigger dump……….. as the game progressed, up jumps Bob Firkin Hatton and a young kid felt the first of what would be many heartbreaking moments following the mighty Boro.
My dear old dad said to a sullen weapy me on the way home “You better get used to this kidda, it is what the Boro do to you” Wise words indeed.
Emile Heskey was indeed a gut wrenching moment of colossal proportions, but by then, that once young boy had suffered so much pain anguish and heartache multiple times over that it had hardened the man in the moment, to such a degree, it was a mere flesh wound.