Tricky Trev's finest hour
Report by Chris Lawton
I was inspired to write this having read Baz Barry's comments on Trevor
Senior. The Bassett reign was over and Steve Harrison was in charge of
a sinking ship. We had scrapped through in the Third Round against
Hull City in a second replay having come from behind in the first match (Bassett's last in charge) to draw
1-1 and 2-2 in the replay at Hull.
The Fourth Round paired the previous year's semi finalists (us) against
the Cup Holders in Coventry. On paper it looked one sided. We were
playing some poor football and had a habit of losing matches 1-0.
Coventry, under John Sillet, were playing some good football and were,
for once, not relegation candidates.
Taking our seats in the stand we were treated to a reasonable view of
proceedings and for the first forty-five minutes the game was pretty end to
endish, with Coventry perhaps creating the better chances. At half time
we were still in it and had it all to play for.
Coventry came out for the second half and piled on the pressure. After
about ten minutes, Watford broke for their only meaningful attack of the
entire half. Someone ran down the right flank and ultimately knocked in an
awful low cross that bounced all over the place. Meanwhile Trevor Senior
galloped up from the half way line. On reaching the edge of the area, he
suddenly suffered from his physical effort as the lactic build-up caused
him to stumble in his stride.
The deadly combination of an awful, low, bouncing cross and the sight of
Trevor Senior collapsing as he reached the six yard line momentarily
distracted the keeper who flailed at the ball, missed it and then watched
in horror as it bounced off Senior's head and into the open goal. Cue
stupified celebration, largely because Trev had scored.
Just for once in this awful excuse for a season, we hung on to win despite
the efforts and ranting of David Speedie. On leaving the ground, we were
pelted with stones from the Coventry fans whilst the police, as always,
turned a blind eye. You could understand their frustration - I mean,
Trevor Senior scoring the wining goal....
Our cup adventure, and Big Trev's, continued with him scoring the second
goal in our Fifth Round replay win against Port Vale. By the time of the
Sixth Round at Wimbledon, Trevor had gone and were staring relegation in the
face, like a rabbit caught in the dazzle of the car headlights faces
death. That win at Coventry was almost certainly one of the worst
performances to make it into "Famous Victories" but deserves it as a
highlight in a barren season and for Trevor Senior scoring, just for
once, the match winner.
