The goalie was Bobby Irvine - I taught his son in Newcastle - and Tony Waddington was so disgusted with his action that he never picked him again, and he moved to Altrincham outside the Football League.
Every time Allan Clarke is mentioned, I always think of how George Kirby used to look after him and sort out anyone who went near him.
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The buses were green as well
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Yep! I was there amongst the 33,000 that day. Great memories. Irvine was an Irish international, I recall.
In the next round we played Norwich, away. I recall that Norwich assumed that we might take a couple of thousand to Carrow Road, they were amused when the club suggested 5,000 might go, in the end we took around 10,000, the ranks swollen by quite a few Baggies fans (WBA had been knocked out in the previous round). It was said that we took four special trains and over 100 coaches (including at least one from the aforementioned Harpers, that I was on)
BTW: A piece of trivia - one of the Harpers buses carried the registration E1000. That was transferred to a car which still drives around the Lichfield, Burntwood area.
Remember coming back from the Lichfield Bower.
Walsall corporation buses were full and would’nt stop. A Harpers double decker came along , stopped and packed us all on.
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Some good came out of it., Martin explained to me when I spoke to him earlier this year for an ISSA interview…
1995-6 was another consistent season playing in 50 games in all competitions and scoring another 10 goals. 2 of those goals came in a 3-0 home win against Chesterfield, one of which was a penalty, in a game that is remembered by some not so much for his contribution to that win but a bizarre incident just before half time. Following an injury , two St John’s men came on to cart him off however the one slipped on the dodgy surface and poor Martin came crashing down to the deck! He politely refused further assistance and merely hobbled off! It became fairly obvious material for Question Of Sport’s ‘What happened next’ and various YouTube funniest moment compilations. As for the man himself he quipped, “My knee had locked but as I fell off the stretcher it unlocked, so it did me a bit of a favour. I did get a well written letter from them about it.”
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Harpers buses ran through all sorts of weather.I remember walking home from Aldridge to the Butts during a “pea souper” as the Walsall Transport buses had stopped running whilst my girlfriend ( later and still my wife) caught the Harper’s bus to Norton Canes. They ran through all weathers with no problems.
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He did and I also went to Norwich where we acquitted ourselves well.Terry Carling came in for criticism for one of the goals but my lasting memory of that game was a point blank miss by Allan Clarke-a rarity indeed.
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It’s a wonder they ever got over the bridge just after Newtown the amount of people they used to cram on
This could be a new thread. When I was a young teacher in Nottingham, the welfare nurse (nit nurse) turned up one day in her car with the registration number FAL 1C. I pointed it out to the rest of the staff to lascivious chuckles from most (and a lot of tutting by the old biddies on the staff).
A year or so later, I saw the same number on a low-slung sports car rumbling around Nottingham. This was in the days before you could legally swap number plates but there were ways and means…
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What was Clarkie’s version? Mine is a rather dim memory and the incident was at the far end of the ground from me.
PS Does anyone remember Jim Mason - and his younger brother whose name escapes me? (OK, OK. I know it was Mason).
Clarke says the keeper pulled him down. My memory favours your version although I think the goalie attempted to bring him down, failed and then lashed out at him.
Clarkie’s memory is a bit worse for wear. As described above, Irvine, with ball in hand, kicked out at Allan as he trotted past him, kicking him to the floor. Penalty! and a good bit of reffing.
Fish you am 100 percent correct …I was right by it.
Dunno what the keeper was thinking.
Great day , Stoke were a bit of a moneybags team at the time.
That’s definitely my memory. Clarkie challenged for the ball with a good old fashioned shoulder charge as was usual in 1966. As he was walking away Irvine just walked up to him, ball in hand and kicked him.
How I miss the pink paper!! I used to normally have a pint in The Bell after the match and get it from there… good old days 
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Always a pointless yet amusing part of the game. Especially when you had two hackers going for it.
Which WFC player would you want as first choice to contest a drop ball? I’ll suggest Mark Rees.
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Im not old enough to have appreciated those players, but Martin O Connor maybe?
Although more recently Matt Preston was quite partial to clearing some one out 
I have definitely seen Mark Rees in a drop ball situation, as well as taking the keeper out and getting sent off moments after coming on as sub 
If not him, I reckon Kiester would have been a good nomination. Play the knees!
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Keister not a bad shout, and from my earliest time as a fan, Bernie The Bolt would be good, but it was a rough era, so plenty of contenders for the job.