Season 1974/75 will always, of course, be remembered for Derby’s second League title in four seasons but what of their FA Cup campaign? The Third Round draw (which was now being shown live on Match of The Day following the conclusion of the Second Round ties) sent the Rams down to East London and a potentially tricky tie at Orient, who were lying 16^th in the Second Division.

Derby ended 1974 in ninth place, having seen out the year with successive 2-1 victories over Birmingham City and Manchester City. The O’s, however, were on a run of nine games without a win although, oddly, they had drawn eight of those matches. They were also the division’s lowest scorers, having netted just 16 times in their 24 games.

The late 1950s and early 1960s had seen the two clubs regularly face one another but, just as Derby’s fortunes blossomed with the arrival of Brian Clough in 1967, this would coincide with Orient’s decline as they drifted down to the third tier and, by 1970, their perilous financial situation had seen their very existence threatened. This, therefore, would be the first time since 1966 that the clubs had met.

The Rams travelled down to London minus the injured Rod Thomas and Kevin Hector with Ron Webster and Jeff Bourne deputising for them and the tie, described by O’s manager George Petchey as “the premier game in London today” was one of those selected for Match of The Day coverage with commentary from John Motson.

For the match, Orient issued a 12-page programme priced at 10p which, unusually perhaps, contained just one advertisement (on page 3, for whisky). There’s plenty to read with two pages on the Derby players as well as photos from the O’s recent games with Sunderland and Manchester United (both of which had ended 0-0).

There’s an excellent statistics section but one which only highlights the paucity of the home club’s attacking prowess. The only mention of this is within the article from Jill Palmer under the heading “Woman Talk” who states

“It must be bad enough when you can’t score or win matches […] having a barracking crowd […] behind you”.

However all bad runs in football come to an end and this would be the case today. On 12 minutes, Colin Boulton dashed out of his goal to punch away a high cross, Henry Newton miscontrolled the ball and it fell to Derek Possee who hammered a left foot shot past Boulton to give Orient the lead and the home fans must have been wondering what had transformed their previously shot-shy players when, just three minutes later, that lead was doubled. Possee’s pass, flicked over the head of Colin Todd, fell at the feet of centre-forward Gerry Queen whose shot went beyond the outstretched hand of Boulton.

The Rams almost went three down soon afterwards, Queen’s header looping over Boulton and rebounding off the crossbar. On 38 minutes, however, Derby grabbed a lifeline when Colin Todd’s shot went through the legs of Derrick Downing, leaving ‘keeper John Jackson helpless. In a breathless first half, there was still time for Barrie Fairbrother to hit the post for Orient.

The second half saw the Rams have much more in the way of possession but the home side still looked dangerous when coming forward and, on 73 minutes, a loud shout went out for a penalty when Possee was seemingly upended by Ron Webster as he skipped past the full back. The referee thought otherwise, though, and waved play on. Webster would later admit he had tripped the player.

Eventually the equaliser was to come, Bruce Rioch cutting the ball back from the bye-line for the onrushing Todd to net his and Derby’s second of the match. Dave Mackay openly admitted to being relieved to come away from Brisbane Road with a replay and it would be one the Rams would win 2-1 to set up a Fourth Round home tie with Bristol Rovers.

P.S. – I’m tempted to track down the programme for the O’s next home game if only to read how Jill Palmer celebrated seeing a couple of goals for a change…..

Orient: Jackson, Fisher, Downing, Allen, Hoadley, Walley, Fairbrother, Bennett, Queen, Grealish, Possee. Sub: Cunningham

Derby: Boulton, Webster, Nish, Rioch, Daniel, Todd, Newton, Gemmill, Davies, Bourne, Lee. Sub: Hinton

Attendance: 12,490