Newly-discovered photos reveal Telford's day of heartbreak

They were bidding to become the first professional club to make it to three successive Wembley finals.

And newly-discovered colour photos capture the moment – newly-discovered because the information with the transparencies wrongly gave the opposition as Wolves.

At first glance it could be mistaken for the famous black and gold kit, but a more careful look shows that Telford United's opponents that day were not in the Wolves strip.

This was Barnet, who stood between Telford and Wembley history at that semi final of the FA Challenge Trophy held on Saturday, March 25, 1972.

The Telford team featured some of the club's legends of the day, the likes of Jack Bentley, Mickey Fudge, George Jagger, and Alan Harris.

The neutral venue was the County Ground at Northampton, which was almost unique in being used both for football and for cricket, being shared by Northampton Town and Northampton County Cricket Club.

It meant that the playing area used for football was three sided, with the cricket pitch mainly beyond the fourth, open, side. For football matches a temporary barrier or, for bigger games, a temporary seating stand, would be erected on the open side.

For cricket matches, the boundary ran almost down the centre of the football pitch.

The FA Challenge Trophy was a new competition giving smaller clubs a road to Wembley, and on May 2, 1970, Telford United and Macclesfield made history as the first finalists in the inaugural competition. Telford lost 2-0.

In 1971 United once more made the Wembley final held on May 1, but soon found themselves 2-0 down against Hillingdon. In perhaps the finest hour in the history of the club, a memorable comeback saw them win 3-2.

The trophy was proudly held aloft by skipper Graham Carr – later father of television personality Alan Carr, who was born in 1976.

So Telford went into that semi final against Barnet in 1972 as the holders, and with dreams of a historic treble.

After a mostly uneventful first half, Telford took control and had chance after chance. In contrast Barnet were well below par and hardly had a sniff. Their free-scoring attack never got a look-in against Telford's defence.

But then, with just 10 minutes to go, Barnet's Colin Powell, who had had the quietest of afternoons, was sent sprawling in the penalty area by Geoff Croft. The ref did not hesitate in pointing to the spot and Dickie Plume tucked the ball out of Bobby Irvine's reach into the corner of the net.

That penalty was Barnet's first real chance in the match, but proved enough to put Telford United out. For the Salopians, it was a case of "if only."

Telford: Irvine, Harris, Croft, Ray, Coton, Ross, Fudge, Murray, Bentley, Hart, Jagger. Sub: Thompson.

The attendance was 4,481.

As it happened, they were to meet Barnet in a Southern League game at the Bucks Head in Wellington only a week later, giving them an early chance to get their revenge. Jack Bentley got the home side off to a tremendous start by scoring within 35 seconds, and in an entertaining encounter Telford won 3-2.

As for the FA Challenge Trophy final at Wembley that year, Barnet's opponents were Stafford Rangers. Stafford won 3-0.

There are some postscripts to the story. Graham Carr, Telford United's skipper in their 1971 trophy success, had started his professional footballing career at his home club of Northampton Town and went on to manage The Cobblers from 1985 to 1990, leading them to the Fourth Division title.

The County Ground said goodbye to football with the last match there in 1994, and has since been purely a cricket pitch.

Northampton Town FC moved to a new stadium, the Sixfields Stadium, with the first match there on October 15, 1994. The result was a draw. The opponents? Barnet, the team which broke Telford hearts in 1972.