West Bromwich Albion v Oxford United, Football League Division Two, The Hawthorns, Saturday 8th December 1973

With Albion this month welcoming Oxford United to The Hawthorns for a Capital One Cup clash, our featured programme comes from the very first game between the two sides back in December 1973.

The Baggies, under Don Howe, were experiencing Second Division football for the first time in 24 years whilst Oxford, who had only been a league club for 11 seasons, were hoping to build on a best ever finish of 8th the season before.

After a poor start to the season Albion had turned their form around and by the time Oxford visited were sitting in 7th place, just one point off third placed Notts County. The U’s meanwhile were struggling, sitting just one place and two points above the relegation zone.

The teams for the Hawthorns’ clash were:

Albion: Peter Latchford, Gordon Nisbet, Ray Wilson, Len Cantello, John Wile, Ally Robertson, Willie Johnston, Tony Brown, Joe Mayo (David Shaw), Asa Hartford, Allan Glover.

Oxford United: Roy Burton, Dick Lucas, John Shuker, David Roberts, Colin Clarke, John Evanson, Ken Skeen, Graham Atkinson, Derek Clarke, John Fleming, Hugh Curran.

A 1-0 win for the Baggies, thanks to a goal from substitute David Shaw, saw the club go 4th, level on points with Luton Town who were now the third placed team. Albion continued to hover around the fringes of the promotion race and looked good for an instant return to the First Division before an awful run of results from March onwards saw them slip away to finish in a disappointing 8th place.

Oxford meanwhile continued to struggle, only avoiding relegation thanks to three wins in their last seven games, one of which was against Albion.

The 16 page programme issued for the game is not rare and can be usually picked up for around £1.

View the complete programme here