There were surprises in store for former footballer Danny Maskell when he celebrated his 90th birthday recently.
Oxford United players signed a card and Watford sent him a shirt with the signatures of their current team on the front and ‘Watford 90’ on the back.
It was a fitting tribute to the player who is almost certainly the sole survivor of the team which brought glory to Headington United, forerunner of the present day Oxford United, in the 1950s.
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He played left wing in the team that completed the double in the 1952-3 season, winning the Southern League title and the Southern League Cup. The following year, he was one of the stars in the United team which fought its way through to the fourth round of the FA Cup to face mighty Bolton Wanderers.
Danny Maskell shows off the back of his Watford shirt
In the 1952-3 season, Danny and his team-mates, under manager Harry Thompson, suffered just three defeats in the final 30 games to pip Merthyr Tydfil on goal difference for the Southern League title.
They also beat Weymouth 4-3 on aggregate to lift the Southern League Cup that year.
But the biggest triumph came the following year when they earned national headlines with a great FA Cup run. United faced an away tie with Third Division Millwall in the second round. They earned a 3-3 draw before a crowd of 20,000 with goals from Bobby Peart, Ronnie Steel and Danny.
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Ken Smith scored the only goal in the replay at Headington’s Manor Road ground, from Danny’s ‘beautifully-placed’ free kick.
Headington United team that played Bolton Wanderers – back row, left to right, F Ramshaw, E Hudson, J Ansell, T Croker, B Craig, J Crichton, front, R Steel, B Peart, K Smith, B Duncan, D Maskell
The team had waited 60 years to beat a Football League side in a competitive game – and it took them just four weeks to claim their second scalp.
Stockport County, also from the Third Division, were the victims, Peart scoring the only goal in a replay at Headington.
That set up a fourth round tie with First Division Bolton Wanderers. With 16,670 spectators squeezed into the tiny Headington ground, there was hardly space to breathe. Headington lost 4-2, but won widespread praise for their performance. The Oxford Mail was full of admiration for the battling home side and also praised fans who “with their rattles, bells and hooters, produced a real cup-tie atmosphere”.
An Oxford Mail cartoon by Alan Course after the victory over Millwall put United in the third round
Danny, who lives with his wife Marion at Old Marston, tells me: “We were paid £14 a week in winter and £12 in summer, with £2 extra for a win and £1 for a draw.”
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He had started his football career with the Mountain Ash club in his native Wales.
Crowds packed the Manor Road ground to see the Headington and Stockport replay
His move to Watford didn’t start too promisingly – in his first Third Division game, at Shrewsbury, the players were warming up and giving their goalkeeper shooting practice when a shot from Danny veered wide and hit a girl on the terraces in the face.
Training for the cup run – left to right, E Hudson, Frank Ramshaw, Johnny Crichton, Ted Croker and Danny Maskell
Danny ended the match with one goal to his credit, and enjoyed his spell at Watford, but it was at Oxford that he really made his mark.
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