Inside-Forward’s Bizarre Cup Coincidence

Not content with making a sensational Wolves debut against the team he thought he would be playing for that very night, Dave Burnside has another curious claim to fame.

It is part of club folklore that the inside-forward was listed in the Molineux programme on September 7, 1966, in the line-up of visitors Crystal Palace, only to be transferred to Wolves shortly before the match and to appear instead in the home team.

Even more remarkably, the Bristolian scored in the opening seconds of the 1-1 Division Two draw.

Less well known to Wolves supporters are the bizarre circumstances of his previous move – the one from Southampton to Palace in December, 1964.

Burnside played for the Saints in their 2-0 League Cup exit at Selhurst Park on October 26 of that season. And, bizarrely, he then lined up for the Londoners when they were handed a trip to The Dell in the fourth round of the FA Cup on January 30.

So, the season before scoring for Wolves against the club for whom the programme had him listed as playing, he played in two cup-ties between the same two clubs in the same season – one in the colours of each side.

Palace’s progress in the two domestic knockouts didn’t quite lead them as close to Wembley as they went by playing Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final yesterday.

With Burnside in their ranks 57 seasons ago, they followed up their conquest of Southampton by also eliminating Nottingham Forest, only to then lose 3-0 to Leeds in the quarter-final.

It was against Forest that Burnside, who died in 2009, had his proudest time as a Saints player.

Across the three games of an FA Cup quarter-final tie against the East Midlanders, he totalled three goals, including a brace in the third meeting at neutral White Hart Lane.

Throughout that triple-header, Southampton included former Wolves youngster Ken Wimshurst, who also scored in the third game – a crushing 5-0 victory for Second Division against First. Their side ran out of steam when beaten in the semi-final by a Denis Law goal for Manchester United at Villa Park.

An item representing another feature of the Dave Burnside story has recently been brought to our attention – a cutting of the match Albion played to open Port Vale’s floodlights in September, 1958.

He was part of a side captained by Ronnie Allen – a man whom he would later link up with at Palace and Wolves – and had a generous mention in despatches for his renowned ball-juggling antics before kick-off.

“The rain came down in torrents while young Dave Burnside was giving his exhibition of ball control,” read the match report in the Stoke-based Evening Sentinel.