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The greatest non-League FA Cup run of the past 100 years could have been even better. Ken Sproat remembers when a floppy corner flag robbed Blyth of more glory

When you support a non-League team it can feel enough, and be a matter of quiet pride, that the club is known and respected in its own town. This has largely been the case in the Northumberland port of Blyth for generations, but in 1978 the town’s team transcended their apparent lot completely. Blyth Spar­tans became one of the most famous teams in the entire football-speaking world.

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Saturday 1 Chelsea stride on, with a controversial 1-0 win at Liverpool who are denied a clear penalty in the first half before Joe Cole gets the late, deflected, winner. “Sometimes you have the luck of champions,” says José, cupping an ear for the squawks of outrage from Old Trafford and Highbury. Arsenal stay in pursuit after a 3-1 win at Charlton. “No one is playing as well as us,” says Sir Alex following Man Utd’s eighth win in nine, 2-0 at Middlesbrough, though Spurs might contest that after their 5-2 thrashing of Everton. Bolton stop the rot, just, a late equaliser forcing a 1-1  home draw with West Brom. Palace’s 3-1 defeat to Fulham returns them to the bottom three, below Norwich who play 85 minutes with ten men after Marc Edworthy’s dismissal at Portsmouth but still get a  1-1 draw. Wigan regain the lead in the Championship, winning 2-0 at Sheffield Utd, while Ipswich lose by the same score at home to West Ham. In League One Hull’s 2-1 victory over Huddersfield brings them level with leaders Luton, held at home by Sheffield Wed. Yeovil’s 2-0 defeat  of Swansea allows them to catch up League Two leaders Scunthorpe, beaten at home by Darlington. The FA will probe a half-time incident during Bristol City’s 2-0 win over Peterborough that makes it a happy new year for  City defender Tony Butler, who suffers “eight displaced teeth”.

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Wednesday 1 A David Bellion goal after 18 seconds is enough for Man Utd reserves to beat their counterparts from Arsenal in the Carling Cup. Liverpool also put out a shadow side, but still knock out Spurs on penalties after a 1-1 draw nicked through a Fredi Kanouté handball (“unforgivable” says Martin Jol) four minutes from the end of extra time.X

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Mike Ticher recalls Arsenal's first championship – the same season that saw Manchester Utd relegated

The long-term significance
Arsenal’s first League title (and the first by any southern club) set them on their way to their domination of the 1930s. The previous year’s FA Cup final victory over manager Herbert Chapman’s old club, Huddersfield, was neatly symbolic, but the championship cemented the north Londoners’ arrival. It had taken Chapman six years to win it, but then the floodgates opened, with three in a row from 1933-35, another in 1938 and a second Cup win in 1936 – though he didn’t live to see most of the silverware, having died in 1934.

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Paul Casella of fanzine The Lion Roars believes that Millwall fans are used to false accusations being made against the club, but a recent article in the Sun took the level of misrepresentation to new levels

As the nearest club to Wapping, a disproportionate amount of senior newspaper journalists visit The Den on a regular basis. It is not rare for the press box to see stars of stage and screen; or at least, stars of Jimmy Hill’s Sunday Supplement. Indeed, judging by the amount of media coverage, Millwall are by far and away the “biggest” club that has 10,000 fans in the country.

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