1976-77 Season - October

The match against bottom placed Norwich at Carrow Road was the archetypal match of two halves. United were a shambles in the first period and were three goals down with just over half an hour gone.

But after the break United took charge and goals from Tommy Craig [penalty after ] and Gowling brought us right back into it.

Big Al nearly salvaged a point just before the end but the homester's keeper Keelan made a superb save.

Norwich manager John Bond (father of Kevin) was full of praise for the Novocastrians who he said were a "credit to the game"; but Lee was more concerned with the poor first half defensive display.

United's fans had not left such a good impression as they went on the rampage in Norfolk.

West Brom were 7th in the table when they arrived on Tyneside and United secured a decent 2-0 victory.

The Throstles player manager at the time was Johnny Giles who had matched skill with cynicism during his many years playing under Don Revie at Leeds. The attitude of his players that night suggested he had transformed his playing stle into his team.

The visitors spent most of the night attempting to kick United off the park and despite booking numerous players referee Dave Richardson came under fire for not clamping down more. Thankfully the United players showed great resilience in not retaliating.

Coventry had made a reasonable start to te season and were just below United in the table. Newcastle seemed content to keep possession and contain the opposition rather than attack them; as a result it was a drab match which did not come to life until the last twenty minutes.

It took a Barry Powell goal for the Sky Blues [71] to bring the visitors to life and after having a goal disallowed [79] Gowling got an equaliser three minutes later after Cassiddy's free kick rebounded off the woodwork.

Cannell almost grabbed a winner at the death, Blyth denying him.

United got a dream start when Burns latched on to a misplaced backpass to put The Magpies ahead within the first minute. But the lead was short lived with Gallagher equalising nine minutes later. The Brummies - with Trevor Francis in fine form controlled most of the first period as United could not get into gear.

When Francis converted a penalty early in the second period it looked as though United maybe facing defeat at SJP for the first time since

The crowd might have reacted badly in the past but on this occasion they got behind the team and they got their reward when a Tommy Craig 25-yarder whistled past Latchford [58].

It was all United now and it was Burns who grabbed the winner [72] after Latchford failed to deal with a Barrowclough cross.

Lee was full of praise for the fans: "The fans were fabulous, it's obvious they appreciate what we are trying to do and the lads were thrilled to bits with the encouragement they got"

Newcastle crashed to their heaviest League Cup defeat at Old Trafford in a match which saw us concede seven goals for the first time in 23 years.

Gordon Hill was the main executioner as the left winger gave United a torrid time and grabbed himself a hat-trick. The other goals came from Pearson, Houston, Nicholl and (future manager) Steve Coppell.

It remains Newcastle's heaviest defeat in their dismal League Cup history.

John Tudor made an early return to Tyneside with his new Potteries pals with his loan move having been made permanent.

Shell shocked Mahoney was generously supported by the United faithful and after the match he was delighted "it made all the difference in the world to me. No one could fail to respond to people like that

In the end an awful match was settled by a clanger from Mahoney' s opposite number England keeper Peter Shilton.

A goalless draw looked on the cards until Shilton failed miserably to deal with a routine free-kick allowing Cannell to grab his sixth goal of the season.