League Cup Semi Final Huddersfield Town 1968

This is an odd one. Back in 1968 we were looking at 15 years without a trophy and had reached the League Cup semi final for the first time. The League Cup was a much maligned trophy when it was first introduced at the turn of the 1960s and Arsenal never entered the first few competitions.

We managed to overcome Coventry City, Reading, Blackburn Rovers and Burnley before being drawn with Huddersfield in the semis. There was a close bond between the two clubs courtesy of one Herbert Chapman who had led the Yorkshire team to three successive titles in the 1920s before moving to the Arsenal.

Despite being just a semi final win away from Wembley it seems Arsenal fans weren't in a rush to book tickets for the 2nd leg at Leeds Road with the club advising fans they were better off booking tickets through the home team as the Arsenal weren't going to order an allocation!

Those fans who did make the journey were left at the mercies of British Rail as the suggested timetable shows. I went to see Huddersfield play Arsenal in a League Cup tie in 1986 and from memory it was a reasonable hike from the station to the ground. Not uncomfortable but around 20 minutes perhaps. We had a special train that night so that left after the game was over and we had been escorted back.


In the programme from the home leg of the semi final, an evening game which kicked off at 7.30 on 17 January, fans were advised to take the train from Huddersfield at 21.08. In other words they would have had to leave the ground halfway through the second half if they were to have any chance of catching their train! And I imagine staying in a Huddersfield hotel was not an option for many!

After winning the 1st leg 3-2 we would have travelled north with a slenderest of leads but goals from Jon Sammels, David Jenkins and Frank McLintock ensured we would be Wembley bound where we lost 1-0 to Leeds United.