If you thought Boundary Park was cold you needed to go to Watersheddings, the old Rugby League ground in Oldham. It was cold there in Summer.

What about for the Final ?

I can’t remember any of that. I was more interested in what was going on out on the pitch. If they were at the Darwen End they’d have had a good view of most of our goals. I see Jim Furnell was in the Plymouth goals. He was a lucky keeper for Rovers. I remember him throwing one in when he played for Arsenal in a top of the table clash at Ewood. Fred Pickering had a shot at goal from about 15 yards out but he kicked the ground as well as the ball. It trundled straight to Furnell who knelt down to pick it and inexplicably let the ball got through his legs. It just had enough pace to roll about a foot over the line and then stop.

He doesn’t give much away does he ? Interesting to hear the some players viewed the trip to Leicester with the “ reserves “ as not being high on their list of enjoyable moments.

That’s not really how I remember it. The was no segregation then so it was hard to say how many came up from Plymouth. People stood wherever they felt like it. I got my usual 5-15 bus back to Rochdale from the Boulevard and I wasn’t conscious of hordes of fans in Green at the railway station.

Wrexham. 0-0, and it really was a 0-0. It was like watching paint dry but nobody was too bothered. I was at the Plymouth game. It was everything people say it was, a real game of two halves. Once we got going it was one way traffic. A bit like the first half of the recent Leicester game.

3 wins out of 11 ? That’s Mowbray form. I thought we’d turned a corner.

It’s a tall order but with 3 pts for a win it’s doable. Our really poor goal difference could be critical in this.

That slight miss control just before the pass worked out well for him.

Is the lad second from the left on the front row Gerry MacDonald ?

He has been “ shit in the air “ . It’s only recently he’s been winning flick ons. They don’t really go anywhere but that’s not his fault. At least the guys marking him have to turn and chase back after the ball. Better than nothing. Maybe JDT has been on his case.

BBD needs to start on the bench. He can come on replace either of Dolan or Gally if need be.

Might be before your time but Peter Bonnetti in the 1970 World Cup against Germany springs to mind. He was an absolutely top class keeper but he went to pieces on the day. I’d seen him absolutely defy Rovers and help Chelsea steal wins previously.

Whoever wrote down the names for that team photo must have been pissed.

The Gentrys - Keep On Dancing

Just been out to get my paper in sunny Rochdale. The East wind is really bitter, as cold as it’s been for a long while. If it’s like this on Friday it’ll be whoever wants to be out there the most that will win the game.

James Carr - At The Dark End Of The Street If you only have one Soul record ——-

The Doobie Brothers - What A Fool Believes

Look at that pitch !

They just want to have a fight, the fact that there’s a football match going on is just a convenient smokescreen.

Brittain was playing centre half at the time . Why ? I don’t know. Barnes had half the pitch to run into. Once you let players like that get a run at you they have the advantage. JRC had him playing facing his own goal most of the time. Backing off to buy time is all well and good but when your opponent gets to the penalty area it’s make your mind up time. You need to be more aggressive and make them do something.

I haven’t been a Pickering fan in the past but I thought he was among our best players on Saturday, as he was at Leicester. When JRC was subbed off in the cup Brittain came on in his place and got the runaround off Barnes. I’d leave things as they were.

Playing regularly has got to be an advantage as opposed to just training and sitting on the bench. In Mowbray’s time the attitude appeared to be that senior players were selected to play at that level as some sort of punishment and was to be avoided.

Blondie Chaplin - Bye Bye Babe Can I just ask - is the object of the game to keep it going or is the object to “ checkmate “ so there are no other moves ?

My grandson is 16 now and real centre half/second row forward material but no way would I take him to the upcoming derby or let him go on his own. By contrast I was going to the derbies on Ellen Smith or Yelloway coaches on my own in the 1960’s when I was 13,14,15. The coach from Rochdale usually went through Whitworth, Bacup etc picking up Burnley fans all the way. Nobody ever bothered me and I was sat there with my blue and white scarf on. Where did it all go wrong ?