ALTHOUGH, 30 years on, the brightest memory is of the goals by Ronnie Radford and Ricky George which propelled Newcastle out of the Cup and United into the Football League, Hereford's epic FA Cup run in 1971-2, extending over 10 games, was far from a two-man show.

As the United bandwagon rolled from Edgar Street, via Kings Lynn, Northampton, The Hawthorns and St James Park, to Upton Park there was a whole team of heroes for the fans to salute.

When Hereford were drawn at home to lower-graded Cheltenham Town in the fourth qualifying round, there was little to warn of the drama in store over the next three-and-a-half-months.

And after two Tony Gough strikes and an own goal had seen off the Robins in front of 6,441 and taken United into the first round proper for the 21st successive season, the long trip to Kings Lynn seemed a poor reward for the fans.

But that didn't stop a big contingent - around 750 - setting off for East Anglia where Hereford fought out a hard-earned goalless draw on a frozen pitch at The Walks.

Another Gough goal was enough to win the replay and confidence was high that the previous season's win over Northampton could be repeated in the second round at Edgar Street.

A measure of the support Hereford were achieving can be taken from the fact that officials were disappointed in a gate of 'only' 9,519 turning out to see a goalless draw. This was followed by a 2-2 thriller - goals from Dudley Tyler and Brian Owen - at the County Ground four days later.

As injury time approached in the second replay at West Bromwich Albion's Hawthorns ground, Hereford, trailing to Frank Large's early strike, seemed to be heading out of the Cup.

But Ken Mallender's 20-yarder revived supporters' hopes and Tyler's injury time winner meant that thousands spent their Christmas and New Year in anticipation of a trip to the North-East.

Bad weather delayed the tie until January 24, but it took just 17 seconds for the massive Hereford support in the crowd of 39,303 to believe that their dreams could be realised.

In United's first attack, Brian Owen's shot screamed into the net past Iam McFaul and, although John Tudor and Malcolm MacDonald briefly put the Magpies in front, player-manager Colin Addison let fly from 25 yards to earn Hereford a remarkable draw.

What happened in the replay has long since passed into football folklore but for Hereford that wasn't the end.

Although 14,313 had been tyre-levered into Edgar Street for the Newcastle game, remarkably almost another 500 squeezed through the turnstiles for the visit of Bobby Moore and his mighty West Ham team five days later.

If Owen's shot had found the net rather than the woodwork, another famous giantkilling may have been on the cards, but, as it was, nobody was complaining about a goalless draw and a trip to the capital.

With, it seemed, most of strike hit Britain wanting to get to Upton Park for the Monday afternoon kick-off, it was one of the few disappointments of the run that thousands of those who made the journey from Hereford to Upton Park were locked out of the ground as 'their boys' trotted on to the field.

Those that were inside - 42,271 of them paying then record gate receipts of £16,986 - saw a Geoff Hurst hat-trick (didn't he once get another of those in a big game?) finally end the run.

But not before one final celebration as Billy Meadows, United's leading scorer, broke his season's FA Cup duck with a left-foot cracker.

HEREFORD United played 10 matches, involving 16 hours' football, during their amazing 1971-72 FA Cup run.

Results

November 6, 4th qualifying round, Hereford United 3 (Gough 2, Jefferies o.g.) Cheltenham 0.

November 20, First round, King's Lynn 0 Hereford United 0.

November 24, Replay, Hereford United 1 (Gough) King's Lynn 0.

December 11, Second round, Hereford United 0 Northampton Town 0.

December 14, Replay, Northampton Town 2 (Large, Hawkins) Hereford United 2 (Tyler, Owen) after extra time.

December 20, Second replay at West Bromwich, Hereford United 2 (Mallender, Tyler) Northampton 1 (Large) after extra time.

January 24, Third round, Newcastle United 2 (Macdonald pen, Tudor) Hereford United 2 (Owen, Addison).

February 5, Replay, Hereford United 2 (Radford, George) Newcastle United 1 (Macdonald) after extra time.

February 9, Fourth round, Hereford United 0 West Ham United 0.

February 14, Replay, West Ham United 3 (Hurst 3) Hereford United 1 (Meadows).