Colin Addison was having a logistical nightmare. The player-man-ager of part-time Hereford United was juggling his team’s once-a-week training night around a mounting backlog of fixtures. To add to his problems, his team lived all over the country. Ronnie Radford was in Cheltenham, Ricky George and Billy Meadows in London, Alan Jones in Swansea, Brian Owen and Tony Gough in Bath and Mick McLaughlin in Newport. “They had day jobs, so we got together only one night a week. We played more than 70 games that season,” says Addison.

With a string of replays in the FA Cup, the Southern League side took care of Cheltenham, King’s Lynn and Northampton to earn a plum third-round game away to First Division Newcastle United.

Five thousand Hereford fans boarded special trains and buses for the trip north. On a crisp winter’s evening in front of 40,000 people at St James’ Park, Hereford kicked off and moved the ball down the right with Owen. “He was a very aggressive player,” says Addison, “and we were all shouting for him to ease the ball to Dudley Tyler: ‘Pass it, pass it’. He decided not to take advice from any of us and whacked it in the top corner from about 35 yards.” Hereford were 1-0 ahead after 17 seconds. Game on.

Malcolm Macdonald equalised for Newcastle and John Tudor put the favourites 2-1 ahead. Then Addison scored with a 25-yard scorcher shortly before half-time to make it 2-2 and, after a dingdong scrap in the second period, Hereford forced a replay at home. “We couldn’t wait,” says Addison. “We didn’t have the best of pitches and we could scrap if we needed to.”

Newcastle headed south three times. The match was postponed each time because of poor weather. “They stayed at Ross-on-Wye, in Hereford and in Worcester, three different hotels in about three weeks. I remember bringing Joe Harvey, the manager, back to my house when the game was postponed. It was lashing down. Keith Bur-kinshaw, his coach, also came along. Keith had a tea and Joe a whiskey. Joe was distraught that the game had been called off.”

When the all-ticket fixture went ahead, more than 16,000 supporters squeezed into the Edgar Street ground. “We will never know how many got in that day. One director came into a meeting and the chairman, Frank Miles, said, ‘What’s the problem?’ ‘We’ve sold out of tickets, Frank’, he said. Frank said, ‘Don’t worry about it, print some more’, And we did.”

Both teams had chances before Macdonald rose at the far post to head Newcastle in front. “You could hear the groans of the crowd and a lot of people thought that was it. It was 1-0 to Newcastle with eight minutes to go.”

Then, out of the blue, Ronnie Radford scored an equaliser that was voted the BBC’s Goal of the Season. “That goal has got better as each year goes by. I always remember the ball getting knocked up and I was in an area where I could compete for it,” says Addison. “Then I heard the big Yorkshire voice come out with words to the effect of, ‘Get outta the way lad’. He took control of the situation, pulled the trigger and the rest is history.”

One-all and extra time. Roger Griffiths had been substituted. He had played 70 minutes with what turned out to be a hair-line fracture in his leg. They made them tough in those days. Ricky George came on in his place and, in the 103rd minute, scored the winner in Hereford’s dramatic 2-1 victory. “I came home shattered, physically and mentally. We could have gone to about 20 different parties that night. Instead, my wife and I just stayed in.”

Four days later, Hereford were at home to West Ham in the fourth round. They had their chances in a goalless draw and then went to London for the replay on a Monday afternoon because of power strikes. It was their 10th match in the competition that season. Although the Bulls played well, West Ham won 3-1 with a hat-trick from Geoff Hurst. The dream was over. As Ricky George says: “Geoff Hurst saved his hat-tricks for the big games.”

1 Roger Griffiths
A full-back, he worked in the maintenance department at Sun Valley Foods. He died at the age of 61 in July last year.

2 Billy Meadows
A London-based striker, he managed Barnet and signed a 38-year-old Jimmy Greaves. He is a London taxi driver.

3 Dudley Tyler
A winger, he joined West Ham the following summer. A salesman for a plastics company, he has retired and lives in Hereford.

4 Ricky George
A winger, he lives in London and works in the media, writing a column on non-league football for The Daily Telegraph.

5 Arthur Bush
The Hereford vice-chairman was a local businessman with interests in news agencies and hairdressing salons. He died in February 2001 at the age of 90.

6 Frank Miles
The club chairman had a carpet business. He helped the Bulls win election to the Football League at the end of the season and progress to the Second Division. He died at the age of 72 in November 2005.

7 Ken Mallender
A defender, he worked for Nike. Retired, he lives in Hereford.

8 Colin Addison
The player-manager was a former Arsenal midfielder. His managerial career took him to Spain where he was one of 39 managers sacked by ruthless Atletico Madrid president Jesus Gil. He commentates for BBC Wales. He still gets a Christmas card from Atletico each year.

9 Alan Jones
A central defender, he is a prison warden in Swansea.

10 Mick McLaughlin
The other half of the Welsh centre-back pairing lives in Atlanta, Georgia, and owns a shipping freight company.

11 Tony Gough
The team captain, he was a midfielder. A county golfer for Somerset, he was a draughtsman in Bath. Now retired.

12 Peter Isaac
The club trainer, he was also the physio-therapist and laundryman. A goalkeeper at Northampton in the 1950s, he is 72, retired and lives in Hereford.

13 Fred Potter
A goalkeeper, he built motorways for George Wimpey. Now retired, he lives in Kidderminster.

14 Ronnie Radford
A midfielder, he is a retired carpenter and lives in Wakefield.

15 Brian Owen
A striker, he worked in the building trade and retired to Padstow in Cornwall.

— ESPN Classic, Sky channel 442, will show a replay of the Hereford v Newcastle match at 5pm and 9pm today

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