Football in Bedford
Bedford drew 2-2 with Arsenal in the FA Cup match at Highbury on 7th January 1956
Cliff Holton, Arsenal Captain, No.6 and Bob Craig, acting Bedford skipper shake hands, watched by the referee, Mr L Callaghan of Merthyr Tydfil.
Bedford Town Supporters.
Bedford's brilliant goalkeeper, Terry Pope dives to stop a shot, with backs Quinn & Cooke (no.2) in support. On the right are Bedford's Farquhar and Arsenal's Bloomfield.
The Bedford Town team toast their draw with tea! The team included Pope; Cooke; Quinn; Farquhar; Craig; Garwood; Steel; Yates; Moore; Adey; Staroscik.
Bedford Record & Circular Tuesday January 10 1956
EAGLES REAL DANGER ON OWN PITCH - says Tom Whittaker
Arsenal May Make Some Changes for Replay
For the FA Cup Replay with Arsenal at the Eyrie on Thursday Bedford Town, the only non-Football League club left in the competition, will field an unchanged team.
Skipper Johnny Crichton, who missed the Highbury game, is still out of the reckoning because of a knee injury, and so Len Garwood continues at left half.
Fears that inside right Harry Yates would be unable to appear in the replay on account of a groin injury were allayed yesterday when he rang manager Tim Kelly with the message ' I shall be ok'.
Mr Kelly Commented " I am really thrilled with the prospect of a home tie. We are looking forward confidently to Thursday."
In search of F A Cup-tie tickets for Thursday's replay some people left trains which arrived back from Highbury on Saturday night and waited outside the Eyrie for about 11 hours.
It was not until 10 am on Sunday that the sale of tickets began to reward to hardy famnatics of football who endured the long January night of icy wind and sleet rather than miss the big game.
At a very early hour the queue became considerable eventually turning into Ford End Road and then down the Slipe to the river!
Little work will be done in Bedford on Thursday afternoon if the queue was any indication! Available locally were 11,250 tickets, 3,750 having been left with the Arsenal.
The Arsenal team outside the Embankment Hotel at Bedford
The replay at the Eyrie on Thursday January 12th saw Bedford defeated 2-1. The second half was one of the first live broadcasts of football shown on ITV.