Roberts Recalls His Days In FA Cup Spotlight

Does the name Lee Roberts still resonate among Wolves supporters – and even defenders of a past age?

In a tie not dissimilar to the slippery assignment Rob Edwards’ side face at Grimsby on Sunday, the West Midlander made a major mark and went close to ushering his boyhood club out of the FA Cup.

Roberts scored for Exeter in a 2-2 third-round draw against Sammy Chung’s Wanderers at St James’ Park in January, 1978 and went close to securing another of the giant-killings for which he is well remembered from four and a half decades ago.

Before the Tuesday night replay, Eddie Griffiths informed us in the Express & Star that the Wolverhampton-born forward had been discarded by Wolves as a schoolboy.

His heart was presumably broken but he picked himself up by making 15 League appearances for Richie Barker’s Shrewsbury and then moved in 1977 to Devon, initially on loan.

His eyes lit up when the draw threw up a meeting with the club of his teenage dreams and he delivered big time, levelling Willie Carr’s free-kick opener by beating two defenders to score with a low 31st minute shot.

A famous scalp was in the offing when the 20-year-old’s strike partner, Harry Holman, made it 2-1 to the side who would finish 17th in that season’s Third Division.

Wolves had 24 minutes left in which to save themselves and only three remained when substitute Maurice Daly drove in his only goal for the club for the equaliser.

With help from Paul Farley and other nostalgia-loving friends at Exeter, we traced Lee down in North Shropshire, to where he moved after injury prompted his release at the end of 1982-83.

He subsequently became a postal worker and had two spells as manager of Market Drayton Town but remembered his day in the sun against Wolves in an interview for the Grecian Archive.

About Daly’s goal, he said: “Their fans went mad and invaded the pitch, knocking all the signs down. Somebody said that was the fastest they’d ever seen me run. As everyone ran on the pitch, I was trying to get off it!”

Roberts, now 68, informed us his favourite player when growing up was Peter Knowles – “I saw him play back in the day” – and had the thrill of appearing at Molineux in the 1978 replay.

Although Wolves had to wait 40 minutes for a breakthrough from John Richards, this was a relatively straightforward assignment and Kenny Hibbitt and Steve Daley added further goals in a 3-1 win. Daly was promoted to the starting line-up for the night and Exeter player-manager Bobby Saxton, a former Molineux youngster, included himself in the visitors’ side.

The highlight of Roberts’ career was still to come. He ‘shinned’ the goal that earned a 1-1 draw at Newcastle in the fifth round of the Cup in 1980-81 and was part of a team who went through with a sensational 4-0 in the replay.

Exeter had earlier beaten Leicester in what was their best ever Cup run, their progress ended at the quarter-final stage by a 2-0 defeat away to a Tottenham side who would go on to memorably beat Manchester City in the final.

Roberts also played a considerable number of games as a defender for them, totalling 179 first-team games and scoring 16 goals.

Wolves went on to lose 2-1 at Arsenal in the fourth round 48 seasons ago and are currently having a pleasing season in knock-out football despite their struggle in the Premier League.

They won through two rounds of the Carabao Cup by beating top-flight rivals West Ham and Everton before losing a thriller at home to Chelsea and have been drawn against bottom-division opponents in both the rounds of the FA Cup in which they have so far been involved.