IT is very rare to see a brave little football club such as Colchester United sharing the same glamorous platform as their more illustrious counterparts - Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Leicester, Everton and Stoke, not forgetting Hull City.

That’s exactly what “Graham’s Grandads” did on Saturday March 6, 1971 when they journeyed north-west to play Everton - one of the biggest clubs in the country - in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.

And the way the U’s started the cup-tie another shock result was looking very much on the cards!

Graham’s “boys” were absolutely outstanding in the first quarter of the game and only the brilliance of Everton goalkeeper Andy Rankin, the woodwork, a goal-line clearance and a turned down penalty appeal prevented the visitors from taking the lead.

Rankin twice pulled off world class saves to thwart the U’s and when he was beaten by a Brian Gibbs shot the ball cannoned back off a post.

Sadly that was the last the U’s fans were to see of their Layer Road heroes as an attacking force as the First Division hosts gradually took command.

Midfielder Howard Kendall - a future Everton manager - rubbed salt into the U’s wounds by heading the “Toffees” in front from an Alan Ball free-kick on 23 minutes and the same duo made it 2-0 nine minutes later.

Big centre-forward Joe Royle then robbed U’s defender John Kurilla and lobbed the ball over ‘keeper Graham Smith to stretch the lead to 3-0 on 33 minutes just three minutes before Jimmy Husband made it 4-0 for half-time with a brilliant solo goal.

Despite the scoreline the ageing U’s players could hold their heads high for they had shown their fifth round win over Leeds United was no fluke.

Heroic display - U’s goalkeeper Graham Smith, an Evertonian, flies through the air as he pulls off one of his many outstanding saves

The rampant home side continued to call the tune after the break only to find Smith - a Liverpudlian by birth and a lifelong Everton fan - in outstanding form as he pulled off several world class saves in the game of his life to deny the host’s goal-hungry forwards.

The U’s historic run, however, eventually came to a sticky end as the “Toffees” World Cup winner Alan Ball - later to become Jock Wallace’s head coach at Colchester - completed the home team’s nap-hand eight minutes from fulltime.

The game that had started with Graham Smith and his old Liverpool school-mate Joe Royle shaking hands in the centre-circle ended with an equally nostalgic gesture as Everton’s players applauded the U’s team off the pitch accompanied by a standing ovation from the 53,000 crowd.

That really should have been it for me, but I had made my way up to Everton on the Supporters Special train - nothing out of the ordinary about that you might say.

But Spurs had been drawn to play Liverpool at Anfield on the same day - no way would that happen now - and escaped with a nil-nil draw.

We were to bear the brunt of that result as we made our way back to Lime Street Station, for, as we were approaching the station we heard a tremendous roaring sound like a load of horses racing through the streets.

It was the Liverpool fans chasing the Spurs fans and as we all entered the station we were pelted with rocks and kerbstones by the home fans from the parapet above the entrance.

I have never been so scared in my life and I have never felt more glad than I did as our train pulled out of that station.

Teams - Everton: Andy Rankin, Tommy Wright, Keith Newton, Howard Kendall, Roger Kenyon, Colin Harvey, Jimmy Husband, Alan Ball, Joe Royle, John Hurst, Johnny Morrissey. Sub: Sandy Brown.

U’s: Graham Smith, Bobby Cram, Brian Hall, John Gilchrist, Brian Garvey, John Kurilla, Brian Lewis, Dave Simmons, Ray Crawford, Brian Gibbs, Mick Mahon. Sub: Ken Jones.