Joe Harvey's Newcastle United take on Ujpest Dosza in the Second Leg of the Fairs Cup of 1969, with United leading 3-0 in the reverse leg thanks to two goals from Defender and Captain Bob Moncur, and one goal coming from Midfielder Jim Scott. Joe Harvey fielded the same Line Up who won the first leg with Willie McFaul in Goal, in Defence was Oli Burton , Frank Clark, Bob Moncur (C), and David Craig. In the Middle of the park were Jim Scott, Preben Arentoft, Tommy Gibb and Jackie Sinclair. Leading the line in Attack were Wyn Davies and Bryan "Pop" Robson.
The first chance fell to Ujpest when Sander Zambo had a throw in on the left, Zambo threw the ball to Janos Goros who crossed the ball into the box, the ball was headed out by the United defence, but only as far as Ede Dunai who had the shot from outside of the area, and was saved by the Northern Irish Stopper Willie McFaul, a good save to his left hand side hitting the cross bar and going out for a corner, which came to nothing.
In the 31st Minute Ujpest Dosza came in again with Bene, who played the ball to Dunai, Dunai drove the cross into the area. After pinballing through the United defence the ball found its way back to Bene who started the attack. Bene had the shot and beat McFaul at his near post. Ujpest could have found a way back into this tie. 1-0 Ujpest Dozsa.
Ujpest smelt blood as the Hungarian side began to live up to their name, they were certainly hungry an on the offensive with a free-kick played short from Goros to the Goal scorer Bene, Bene had an effort from thirty five yards out but fails to beat the keeper for a second time in this fixture. They didn't stop there though, Antal Dunai played the ball through to Janos Goros, Goros raced into the box leaving the defence flat footed and struck the ball past the keeper into the left side of the net, McFaul beaten for a second time in this half at his near post and Ujpest have to feel that they had turned this game on its head. 2-0. And the gap has shrunk on aggregate to 3-2 still to Newcastle United.
Second half now and Joe Harvey's men had to get this game under control. In the 46th minute a corner comes in from United but the ball finds the head of the defence and goes back to the corner taker Jackie Sinclair. Sinclair floated the ball in again towards the captain Moncur who hit a sweet left footed volley to beat the keeper and rescue this final for the Magpies, and what a sweet shot it was. Take a bow Bob Moncur, too powerful for the keeper Antal Szentmihalyi to deal with. 2-1.
Fifty Minutes in, Gibb dispossesses Kaposzta to cross the ball into the box. The ball is headed away, only as far as Scott who has a shot, deflected off of the defender the shot found Arentoft who was clear of the Defence, Arentoft fashioned a left footed volley of his own and scored the equalizer. 2-2, Surely this is the game for Newcastle United to take now with the aggregate score standing at 5-2 to United
on the 74th minute Dunai had a shot off of a cross from a free-kick that went wide. Willie McFaul with the goal kick, Headed on in the centre by Wyn Davies to find Alan Foggon, who drove the ball into the box beating the defenders for pace, Foggon hit the ball right footed and it's parried onto the bar by Szentmihalyi, but Foggon kept on going, he got to the ball first, with the goal clear of the keeper Foggon throws his leg out to meet the ball and put United ahead in this match. 3-2 to Newcastle.
The clock was running down, Ujpest knew they could not rescue the competition but at the very least they could rescue the match. Bene went on the attack and had a shot that was deflected out to Ede Dunai, Dunai had an effort that was collected comfortably into the midriff of the McFaul. McFaul throwed the ball out to Moncur who was still gleaming from his goal contributions in both legs of this final. Moncur dribbled down the line and eventually cleared it, only as far as Kaposka who played the ball back to his own keeper, Szentmihalyi picked the ball up and throws the ball out to Bankati. Was there time for a last ditch attack? No the referee had blown the whistle and it was all over. Newcastle United had won the 1969 European Fairs Cup. Bob Moncur would lift the trophy he so valiantly helped to win. Remember the day 11th of June 1969.
I hope you all enjoyed this match report. With everything that is going with Newcastle United in this day and age I thought it would be nice to write about one of the best days in our history. The last time we won a major trophy. We talk about the Great Captains of our time with most notably Alan Shearer (and rightly so). But Bob Moncur does not have a statue, The only person who was accredited with a memorial of sorts was Joe Harvey who has a Plaque to remember him by.
But no matter what other fans like The Mackems may say, Football in Newcastle did not start in 1993. We have seen plenty of Talent at St James Park before the Nineties with the Likes of Bob Moncur (as mentioned) Peter Beardsley had his first spell at Newcastle in 1983-1987, scoring 61 goals in 147 appearances before his return in 1993-1997 where he scored 47 goals from 129 appearances. Then we had Kevin Keegan who came to the club as a player in 1982-1984 scoring 48 goals in 78 appearances. Keegan would then go on to have two spells in management at St James park in 1992-1997 where he guided Newcastle to second place in 1996 and 1997, missing out both times to Manchester United. And Finally I can't leave out United's second top Goal scorer Wor Jackie Milburn. Milburn scored 177 goals from 335 appearances for Newcastle United between 1943-1957 and winning the FA Cup three times in 1951, 1952 and 1955. We as a club have a pretty good history, and apologies for ending this on a sour note but unless Mike Ashley sells the club our future doesn't look as great.
By Sam West.
Howay The Lads!
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