Friday, February 22, 2013

When Swindon Town and Don Rogers won the cup



One of my early football memories is of Division 1 Arsenal being beaten in the League Cup final by Division 3 Swindon Town - largely thanks to Don Rogers, the George Best of Wiltshire.

There was a touching piece about this match in this morning's Guardian, occasioned by Sunday's final between Swansea City and Bradford City:
It was almost 44 years ago, yet the passage of time has done nothing to erode the memories Don Rogers and John Trollope have of the part they played in one of football's greatest giant-killings. From the surreal sight of hoof marks on the Wembley pitch to the abiding image of Bob Wilson being left hopelessly exposed in the dying seconds, pictures are ingrained in the mind from the day that Swindon Town – then a Third Division side – defeated Arsenal to win the League Cup.
It turns out that Rogers, whom we last saw scoring the Goal of the Season in 1973, now runs a sports shop in Swindon.

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