Wolves v Shrewsbury Town, FA Cup 6th Round, 10th March 1979

Highlights of the FA Cup 6th Round match between Wolves and Shrewsbury Town on 10th March 1979.

John Barnwell was appointed Wolves manager in November 1978 following a dismal run of 11 defeats in 14 matches that led to the dismissal of Sammy Chung. It was the beginning of a brief successful period for Wolves; the slide towards relegation from the First Division was ultimately reversed late in the season and, in addition, Wolves appeared in two FA Cup semi-finals during Barnwell's tenure (both defeats) and won the League Cup on 15th March 1980. One of those two semi-finals followed their match against Shrewsbury when, after a closely fought draw at Molineux in front of almost 41,000, Wolves won the replay at Gay Meadow some three days later.

A prime reason for the alarming run of results at the start of the 1978-79 season was due to the absence of striker John Richards who underwent an operation on his right knee in October 1978. Prior to that, Richards had appeared just twice earlier in the season, but his return to the team brought instant rewards for John Barnwell with the winning goal away to Arsenal on 24th February 1979. There followed a further 8 goals in 16 games for Richards as Wolves finally pulled clear of relegation for good with a 2-1 win at Chelsea on 24th March 1979, with another all-important goal scored by Richards.

The Wolves line-up for the match against Shrewsbury had a familiar look to it with Richards, Kenny Hibbitt, Geoff Palmer, Derek Parkin, John McAlle, Willie Carr and Steve Daley - all players that figured prominently in Wolves teams from earlier in the decade. Added to that were more recent introductions; George Berry made his Wolves debut in the penultimate match of the 1976-77 season whilst Billy Rafferty, Peter Daniel and goalkeeper Paul Bradshaw were signed by Sammy Chung. Daniel and Bradshaw, in particular, served Wolves admirably during their time at Wolves and were, along with Berry, key members of Barnwell's League Cup winning team.

At the time of their FA Cup encounter with Wolves, Shrewsbury were second in Division Three and would eventually win the title by a single point ahead of Watford and Swansea City. Included in their team at Molineux was centre-half Graham Turner, who had been appointed Shrewsbury's player-manager in November 1978 following the departure of Richie Barker to assist John Barnwell at Molineux. In later years, Turner managed Wolves in a successful seven-and-a-half year spell.

Originally broadcast by ATV Star Soccer with commentary provided by the peerless Hugh Johns.