On Saturday , 24 January 1959 the visit of Sheffield United to St. George’s Lane attracted a record crowd of 17,042, and those present witnessed our only ever appearance to date in the fourth round of the F.A. Cup. It remains our last ever game against a side from the second flight of English football in the Cup, and it would also prove to be the last occasion on which the eleven players that had beaten both Millwall and Liverpool would ever play together in City colours.

When the Liverpool game was played, the fourth round draw had already been made. Like Liverpool, the Blades were at that time playing in the Second Division, and were lying fifth in the table (Liverpool had been third behind Sheffield Wednesday and Fulham). They had a settled side, with six players having hitherto played in every game that season, and two of the team – goalkeeper Alan Hodgkinson and Graham Shaw – were England internationals. Shaw had won his first cap against Russia at Wembley in October 1958.

United’s manager, Archie Clark, was able to watch the Liverpool game and he did his homework. “I don’t think we have anything to fear from Worcester, specially if playing conditions are reasonable,” he said. “I have a complete view of the Worcester team and I am not at all worried, I think if we play our normal game we can get through.”

United stayed at the Raven Hotel in Droitwich, travelling up on the Monday before the match and making it their base for the week. Their fans had been allocated 4,000 tickets, and as Cup fever gripped Worcester, a thaw had set in and the St. George’s Lane pitch became waterlogged. If it had rained heavily beforehand the game would almost certainly have been postponed. As it was the sun came out, but the playing surface turned to mud as the match progressed.

Against both Millwall and Liverpool, City had been out of the blocks quickly and had scored vital early goals.

This time the opposition seized the initiative and dictated the pace of the game from the very first kick. Inside the first ten minutes City’s usually reliable defence had been caught out of position at least four times, and it was no surprise when the visitors scored in the ninth minute. Kevin Lewis – at seventeen the youngest player on the pitch – was unmarked and calmly stroked home a left wing cross from Ron Simpson.

At that point, it seemed like a case of how many more goals United would get, but City gradually adjusted to the pace that the visitors had set and held out until half-time. In fact, as the first period was drawing to close, City began to match their opponents and Harry Knowles had our best chance of the match, stealing the ball off Shaw and, with only Hodgkinson to beat, hammering the ball against the goalkeeper’s chest. He then shot tamely into Hodgkinson’s arms with Tommy Skuse screaming in the middle for the ball to be squared to him. When Harry finally did lay on a chance for Tommy, the City youngster blazed the ball over the crossbar when he only needed to prod it into the net. “His inexperience stuck out like a sore thumb,” said the News and Times reporter.

Three chances had been missed and after that City never got another look-in. Archie Clark told his men at half time: “Relax, and you’ve had it. Pull up your socks, get out there and let’s have another quick goal to clinch the game.”

His players duly obliged within six minutes. Left winger Simpson pulled down a long ball expertly and drove home from the edge of the penalty area, although Johnny Kirkwood in the City goal got a hand to the ball.

After that, United began carving their way through the City defence once again. City’s approach became ever more desperate. Harry Knowles had been booked before half-time after several attempts to unsettle Hodgkinson. He was all over the United goalkeeper again minutes after the visitors’ second goal, and said afterwards: “I thought my jaw was broken.” He had to receive attention from the trainer and Harry was fortunate not to be sent off. Skuse too was on the receiving end of several warnings from referee Mr Kingston, and United’s Graham Shaw, meanwhile, had to go off for treatment.

But City couldn’t make any headway against a United side that passed the ball quickly and gave nothing away in defence.

There was very little reaction from the City dressing room. All that City boss Bill Thompson would say was: “The further you go in this Cup, the harder it is when you fall. The end had to come some time. We’ve no complaints – the better team won.” His counterpart Archie Clark was more forthcoming: “To me it looked like a racehorse against a donkey. We should have won 5-0. We missed a hatful of chances.”

The headline in the Evening News and Times the following Monday really said it all: “Worcester’s Gallant Cup Battlers Hadn’t Met This Class of Player Before.”