The Herts Ad Sunday League Knockout Cup has a strong history with plenty of tales of daring do and glory.
It is usually the private plaything of clubs in the Premier Division with the likes of Sporting Club having won it six times, and twice further as Albert RN, Nicholas Breakspear OB also eight times winners and Chequers the champions on seven occasions,
However, back in the 1972-73 season cup shocks were not just reserved for Sunderland’s 1-0 win over the mighty Leeds United in the FA Cup.
The year also saw the biggest upset in the history of the competition when Division Two Queens Head toppled Sporting Club 1-0, at that point five-time winners.
Queens were the first side ever from that tier to reach the final and they mastered an over-confident Sporting.
The Premier Division champions fielded a star-studded team but were denied a hat-trick of cup final wins by a team whose main attribute was guts.
The match itself saw Sporting unsurprisingly dominate but despite their supremacy, they failed to account for the never-say-die attitude of the Colney Heath.
They harried Sporting, fighting for every ball, and they got their reward in the final minutes of the game, Brian Clarke getting the goal and clinching the trophy.
Sporting Club: John Smith, McClean, Murphy, Sneddon, Goodchild, Grant (Hewing), Hughes, Bentley, Whiting, King.
Queens Head: Hardy, Pugh, Norman Allen, Dixon, Rosser, Blundell (Gorden Allen), Clarke, Robbins, Gash, Last, Herbie Smith.
n Sporting Club’s 15-year association with the league started in 1964-65 when they changed their name from Gainsborough ‘A’ and they won every competition they entered in the county, even reaching the semi-finals of the National Sunday Cup.
Six of their cup wins resulted in a league and cup double.
The club boasted prolific marksmen in the likes of Barry Bentley (156 goals), Martin Green (151), Bob Murphy, Jim Whiting (91), Alan Easterbrook (65), Alan Last (64) and Barry Butterfield (50).
At one stage Sporting made seven consecutive appearances in the final, winning five times.
They beat Pauper on three occasions while their other victories came against Bedco, Spencer, Railway Inn and Estate & Fleas.
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