Johnny Phillips: Wolves’ forgotten cup runs of the 1972/73 campaign

In four days’ time, Julen Lopetegui takes his side to the City Ground for a League Cup quarter-final.

Most fans will be more concerned with league survival, particularly those who have grown up in the Premier League era, but the cup competitions have always captured the imagination at Molineux.

This is a club with a proud tradition in knockout football – four FA Cups and two League Cups – even if it is the preserve of those with long memories.

But one season that rarely gets a mention was perhaps the most exciting of all when it comes to cup football.

Fifty years ago Wolves went on two fantastic cup runs, only to lose in the semi-finals of both competitions.

The 1972/73 season rarely features among the memories, sandwiched as it was between the ‘72 Uefa Cup final defeat to Spurs and ‘74 Wembley win in the League Cup over Manchester City.

But half a century on, two of the key players in those campaigns remember that season well.

“I have some very good memories of the FA Cup run in particular,” the club’s record top-flight scorer John Richards recalls. “We were lucky to be drawn at home in every round and the games, bar the quarter-final against Coventry, were very tight – all 1-0 wins.

“That quarter-final got off to an interesting start because Derek Dougan got knocked out in the warm-up by a cross from Steve Kindon, who was our substitute and had been warming up goalkeeper Phil Parkes with shots and crosses.

“Doog was out cold for about two or three minutes before he was brought round by some smelling salts administered by Sammy Chung. Kick-off was even delayed while the Doog recovered.

“I scored early in the first half following a flick-on from the Doog and Kenny Hibbitt scored from a penalty in the second half.

“Ironically, Willie Carr was in opposition to us that day, and he later went on to have a fantastic midfield partnership with Kenny a few years later.”

“I suddenly realised that I was going to take the penalty and my heart missed a couple of beats as I ran up to take it,” Hibbitt remembers. “I admit I was bloody nervous knowing that if I scored the match was practically won and Wembley was just one game away. I scored and the relief was fantastic.”

Richards and Hibbitt are joining forces next month for a Wolves Icons stage show at Oakengates Theatre in Telford on February 7, alongside former team-mate Steve Daley, and their cup exploits will be among many features of the evening’s entertainment.

“The semi-final draw gave us Leeds at Maine Road,” Richards adds. “We really fancied our chances against them; we were doing well in the league and we’d also reached the semi-final of the League Cup a couple of months earlier.

“We had a setback with our captain Mike Bailey starting on the bench because he’d got a slight hamstring strain.

“Leeds put us under pressure, but we held on in the first half. The second half was very open, nothing in it, with the pitch cutting up quite badly.”

“I was getting really frustrated and was correctly booked for a foul tackle on Terry Yorath,” reveals Hibbitt. “A friend of mine keeps showing me the tackle on his mobile phone and says if VAR had been around then, it would have been a red card. No chance!”

“Billy Bremner scored after 70 minutes – the first goal we’d conceded in that cup run,” Richards continues. “I had a shot that hit the inside of the post and bounced into the keeper’s arms, and then Doog had a free header which went fractionally wide in the dying seconds.

“It was heart-breaking, we’d lost two semi-finals in a matter of months. We finished fifth in the league, but it was no consolation for those defeats.”

“The semi-final defeat in the League Cup against Spurs is not something I want to remember too much about as Spurs were our bogey team throughout my Wolves days,” Hibbitt admits. “It was a tough two-leg fixture and losing in extra-time really hurt.”

What is surely forgotten among all but the most statistically keen Wolves fans is that the team did manage to win a trophy of sorts for those cup exploits.

“In those days, there was a third and fourth place play-off in the FA Cup, which was held at the start of the following season,” Richards explains. “Our opponents were Arsenal and the game was held at Highbury.

“Alan Ball, Bob Wilson and a very young Brendon Batson were in their team. We beat them 3-1 with two goals from the Doog, one of which was an uncharacteristic right-footer which he lashed into the net.

“It seemed like a bit of a non-event at the time, but I did end up with an FA Cup third place tankard, which is probably a very rare item now.”

Fifty years on the cups are not always treated with the respect the deserve.

A rare chance for silverware and a guaranteed passport to Europe, maybe it is time Wolves look to recapture those halcyon days when knockout football was loved by those on the pitch and on the terraces.

n Tickets for Wolves Icons: The 70s can be bought here https://www.telfordtheatre.com/whats-on/all-shows/wolves-icons-the-70s/4780/#details