The team only registered one victory in the first seven matches of 1968-69, and things looked dire. However, the situation then improved dramatically and by the end of the year, we were heading the league. There was also the Cup run, with Scully and Barry Endean netting v Port Vale in Round 3 for a well-earned victory. Out of the hat for Round 4 came Manchester Utd, away! I got lucky that day. Living in Manchester, a Utd-supporting friend offered me his season ticket saying, "It offends me to see massacres, but you might like to remember the experience of playing the greatest team in the World." With the crush at the gates, I was filing along to my seat as the game kicked off. The well-healed Man Utd ticket holders, politely stood up to let me pass, and as I did so my unbelieving eyes saw Stewart Scullion whip the ball past the Utd keeper into the back of the net. Man Utd 0 Watford 1; I went wild and the standing Utd ticket holders sat down to a man as the whole stand groaned. For the rest of the half, George Best, Nobby Stiles, Bobby Charlton and Dennis Law were run ragged by the boys in gold, Scully the Scorer being an inspiration every instant of the half. It was too good to last, and after a goal mouth mix up, Law managed an equaliser well against the run of play. It will never matter that, as "the big freeze of 69" set in, we lost the replay 0-2 before the biggest crowd the Vic will ever see (34,100). That Scully second-minute goal was as good as winning the Cup final itself!

There was the natural fear that the Cup run would adversely affect the team's performance in the league. This didn't happen, however, and promotion to Division II for the first time in the club's history was assured by a controversial victory over Plymouth. Watford went wild after the match, and players wept openly on the field. The tension was off and the last three games were all defeats, though Watford still topped the table on goal average from Swindon with, deliciously, Luton third missing promotion by three points.

Next...