As I sit typing this in 2020, it is hard to believe that at this very moment 46 years ago, I was starting my trip to London to see Saints play at Orient in what was the final match of a disappointing season.

1974/75 season had been a disappointing one for Saints, after relegation a year earlier we were expected to go straight back up, Man Utd and Norwich who were relegated alongside us did just that but we languished in mid table all season.

All the talk on the Milton Road end in the previous games had been about the trip to Orient on the final day of the season, as a 13 year old there was a group of lads all around the same age who got into the ground early and congregated under the Toomers sign until moved out by the older guys when they arrived from the pub, the older lot were going so all the young lads decided they would too.

So everyone arranged to meet up at Central Station on the morning of the game.

There was a good turn out of both older and younger members of the so called Milton Mob, the standard football fan dress those days was Dr Martin boots, big baggy trousers which could be either jeans, brightly coloured trousers or what were called Oxford Bags a sort of checked pair of kecks with a turn up at the bottom.

These were usually shortened to around the top of your Docs, topped off with a jumper or Jean jacket and a long hair cut the. In fairness this was about the last year of this dress mode and things would all change within a year or two.the fashion was known as Boot Boy's at the time.

Everyone wore a scarf back then and for the occasion I had bought a Yellow & Blue bar scarf as we would be playing in our away strip.

Up we went on the train and then transferred to the Underground, this might have been only the second time I had ever been on the tube, back then as kids trips to that there London were not that frequent.

We arrived at Leyton station and disembarked noisily on to Leyton High Road, Orient, who were then in a short period of having dropped the "Leyton" from their title to make them sound more cosmopolitan were known not to have a firm, they were a family club, so we had no fear and anyway we were in a crowd with a lot of older lads so would be safe.

They all piled into the pubs on Leyton High Road and we joined them, we didn't have the money for drinking, but we had the odd drink bought for us and I even bought one myself, I was big for my age and back then checking age was not the thing it was today so probably the landlord didn't want to jeopardise the money he was taking as we were with a big mob.

We went into the ground early, the word was that Orient's mob went on the big side terrace and we were going to "Take" it.

Back then Brisbane Road was technically bigger than the Dell, only 11 years earlier during the O's one season in the top flight it had crammed 34,000 in the ground for the visit of nearby West Ham, this was due to the fact that it had terracing on all four sides, indeed three sides were all terrace and we were going into the biggest part of it.

The big covered terrace that ran the length of one side of the ground was bigger than anything we had at the Dell and in truth we were a bit jealous of it's size and the fact that the roof mean't you could make so much noise, it must have been able to hold around a third of the ground's capacity.

When we got in we were literally the only people on this terrace, the total attendance would be 7,580, I can't remember how many we had in this crowd, maybe a thousand.

Soon it was kick off time and more Saints fans joined us and the teams came out, Orient in their bright red shirts and us in even brighter yellow and blue.

This was just about the loudest singing I had heard from Saints supporters, the Milton End had no roof so no amplification, here we had the roof and it was loud and echoed around the ground which was about a fifth full, people were sat watching the game on the terraces something I had never seen at the Dell.

I had seen it at Fratton Park,I had been to a couple of games down there a year or two earlier and was shocked at how empty it was big swathes of empty terracing on two sides of the ground, not a slur to Pompey just saying what I saw.

This was the 4th ground I had been to at the time, I had also been to Anfield and Goodison, which were totally different experiences to The Dell let alone Brisbane Road.

The game had nothing on it aside from who would finish above each other, Orient were a point behind us and if we won we could push ourselves into the top 10, but there wasn't the financial incentives back then so it didn't really matter.

It was goalless at half time and I remember some vandalism at the back of the stand being dealt with by the Police, but I never saw the point of random vandalism so I wasn't part of it.

What I do remember though was the great view from the back of the stand, you could see over Hackney Marshes and where the Olympic Stadium would eventually be built.

Within a minute of the game restarting Mike Channon put us ahead, but the lead would not last, on 67 minutes Queen equalised for the home side and then ten minutes later Lawrie Cunningham scored the winner, I remember that he tore us apart on the wings that day and in fairness Orient deserved the win.

All tat was left now was a noisy ride how on the tube, but there was one little issue to contend with and that was the rumour that Millwall would be waiting at Waterloo due to a disturbance at the Dell a week earlier when we had effectively relegated them.

They weren't there though, possibly because they were never going to be and we were all herded back on to the train home as loud choruses of "Millwall where are you" and Southampton La La La echoed around the station.

When we got back to Southampton a lot of the young lads decided to go to watch the Glitter Band who away from their leader the now disgraced Gary Glitter were enjoying a solo career and were playing the Guildhall, it was not a big crowd.

Ironically two years later in 1977 I would be back on the same spot in Brisbane Road for our game against them in that season, this time it was a night game and I went up on a coach that used to depart from the Sailors Return pub on Millbrook Road.

Orient for an evening game was a bit of a different proposition from a Saturday game, in that you would get little mobs from West Ham or Tottenham turn up if their sides didn't have a game.

I went by coach as I could leave after school and get the coach, also it would drop me off within walking distance of home after, two years earlier 26th April was our last game, in 1977 this was the first of six left to play and the season would stretch to 14th May before it reached the final Saturday.

I can't remember much about this game, we got there quite near kick off and left straight after, the total crowd was only 5,226 and I would suspect we had about 600 fans up there as we really had nothing to play for, although Orient were battling against relegation.

The game saw a debut at left back for Tim Coak for the first of 6 appearances he would make for the club.

Saints were 1-0 up at half time through Ted MacDougall, Orient equalised on the hour mark before Macdougall again restored the lead and then Mike Channon made it 3-1 with 10 minutes left.

Orient scored late on but it was too late to even get another chance let alone a goal.

This was my third trip to Orient within two years and it would be four a year later I made it five when I watched David Peach play for the England U23 side in 1979, after going five times in 4 years, I have been only three times in the next 41.

Photo: Action Images

silverspringsaint added 14:23 - Apr 26 My first log in! Remember this game well, dashing up from central London where I was living at the time. Cunningham was different class, someone you could see going places. Saints were pretty average that day.
0

legod7 added 22:36 - Apr 26 Leyton Orient was first ever away game on 9th May 1966. We drew 1-1 and virtually ensured our first ever season in the top division of English football.
0

Blogs 31 bloggers

Burton Albion Polls