MITCHELL Thomas, formerly of Hereford but now of London, has sent in this photograph which brings back memories of one of county football's great days.

Mitchell recalls the final day of Hereford United's epic 1971-2 FA Cup run which had seen them boot top-flight Newcastle United out of the competition in the third round and then holding glamorous West Ham to a goalless draw at Edgar Street a few days later.

"I have attached a photograph of a resilient group of Hereford United supporters who were locked out of the West Ham Utd ground due to coaches getting caught up in traffic when they were trying to get to the FA Cup replay," said Mitchell.

"The game was played on a Monday afternoon due to the miners' strike and a lack of electricity for floodlights at evening games.

"Fans who were locked out were not treated very well by the police as they walked around trying to find a way in.

"One supporter managed to climb up the outer fence and was hauled in by fans leaning over.

"This picture appeared on the front page of a national paper the following day.

"These fans found their way on to the roof of a block of flats behind the goal half way through the first half. I was among them.

"Unfortunately our view was obscured by the stand at that end of the ground and even worse because West Ham were attacking that end of the pitch I can only remember seeing the West Ham goalkeeper, Bobby Moore and the ball when it was in the air!

"At half time the police came and ordered us all down."

A massive crowd of 42,271 did get in to Upton Park that day and Bulls fans will recall that it took a Geoff Hurst hat-trick - he reserved his hat-tricks for big occasions like this and the World Cup final - to knock the city's famous Giantkilling side out of the competition.