ARSENAL 4-5 MANCHESTER UNITED

BY TERRY ATKINSON

My first Arsenal game is lost in the mists of time – it was probably a reserve game when I was a toddler. But the match I remember most from my early days was my first sitting in a seat at Highbury. It was 1958 and I was just 9-years-old. We lost that day 4-5 to Manchester United in what turned out to be their last league game before the Munich disaster.

What I remember most is the way the crowd, even in the seated West Stand, got behind the team in the second half when we fought back from 0-3 down at half-time to make it 3-3. Even after United restored a two goal lead to make it 3-5 we still nearly made a draw of it. 

Duncan Edwards scored a hat-trick for the visitors, the man of the match for me was Arsenal captain Dave Bowen drove us forwards from midfield with a balance of skill and determination.

I grew up watching that Arsenal side with players such as Tapscott, Herd, Bloomfield and my all time Arsenal hero - Jack Kelsey. Since then, I've seen Arsenal in a host of domestic European finals and I've seen them win the league championship but, strangely, my earliest and favourite memory is a match that we lost.