1975/76
Of course, we made the third round in our big title-winning season. It was back-to-back big draws as well – after beating Chesterfield, First Division Stoke City came out of the hat. This is a Stoke City featuring Peter Shilton, Alan Hudson and Jimmy Greenhoff, and it was at the Bank.
We won 2-1 on ‘the night the wall came down’ and that meant a third round game against Leicester City. Stoke would finish 12th in the top flight, and Leicester ended the campaign in seventh. We sensed an upset – the Foxes had just six points from their opening ten games, and were winless aside from their League Cup win.
We went down 2-1 at Filbert Street, and not long after, Leicester went on a run of two defeats in 15 league matches to climb the table.
Verdict – Good draw
1981/82
Not all cup draws are good because the opponent is a top-flight side. Our reward for beating Hull City (Fourth Division) and Notts County (First Division) was a trip to Watford. That sounds horrible, right? Wrong. This wasn’t just Watford. It was Graham Taylor’s Watford, a return to action against our former manager.
Drawing 2-2 at Vicarage Road was cathartic, a completion of a journey that started after they hammered us with Willie Bell in the dugout. It rubber-stamped the crowning of a new legend, Colin Murphy, and even the eventual 3-2 defeat in the replay did little to ruin the mood.
Verdict – Bad draw
1982/83
York City (Fourth Division) and Leicester City (Second Division) were beaten to set up a proper cup tie in 1982/83. At the time, we were flying, seemingly unstoppable in the Third Division, and top-flight West Ham would not have relished a trip to the Bank.
West Ham is a big draw. West Ham are a big club. They finished eighth that season in the First Division, having won the FA Cup in 1980 and finished as runners-up in the League Cup in 1981. We lost 2-1 after extra time in a replay at Upton Park, after Derek Bell earned us a second stab of the cherry in the 1-1 draw at the Bank.
Verdict – Good draw