Riley & Norman Recall Epic FA Cup Semi-Final
This was only the fourth time in FA Cup history that two semi-final replays had been necessary. Sheffield United had featured in all three of the previous occasions.
Howard and Richie also recalled the other games in the 1961 cup run, which culminated in a Wembley Final against Tottenham Hotspur.
Richie and Howard began by recalling how the 1961 FA Cup run to the final began with a third round tie against Southern League Oxford United, who were to become a Football League side at the end of the following season.
“I remember that they had big Ron Atkinson playing,” Richie said. “He had big legs. He was a powerful guy, but he wasn’t very quick. I remember knocking a ball past him and running round him. It was a game we were never going to lose. Oxford didn’t pose us many problems. We got through that one quite comfortably with goals from Howard, Ken (Leek) and Jimmy Walsh. We won 3-1.”
Leicester City’s fourth round opponents were Third Division Bristol City whose side contained the England international John Atyeo. Leicester entered the tie at Filbert Street in confident mood having beaten Manchester United 6-0 the previous Saturday. However, as Richie explained, the first game was abandoned at half time with heavy rain turning the pitch into a morass of mud and standing water.
“As the initial game on the Saturday had been abandoned, we played the following Tuesday. The pitch was still very heavy. In fact as we ran out you could see the players’ footprints imprinted onto the mud. The last thing the manager said was, ‘Defenders. If you are passing the ball back to the goalkeeper (Gordon Banks), make sure you hit it because it will get stuck in the mud’.
"This lodged in my memory. After about 15 minutes, I’d got the Bristol City winger chasing up my back. I had nowhere to go so I had to pass the ball back. I didn’t really like doing this. I liked to turn and deliver the ball somewhere else but I’d no choice. Remembering the manager’s words I passed back, but I hit it too hard. Gordon slightly slipped, he went down on one knee and the ball flew into the top corner.
"There was a big crowd at the ground and you could have heard a pin drop. I looked round to one or two of our players and everybody had their head down! Nobody went ‘Never mind Richie’! However, I got away with it because we scored five goals in the next 20 minutes! We were 5-1 up at half time which was the final score. I remember the headlines, ‘Richie Norman starts a goal riot’.”
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