I was there too. I can still picture the goals - and hear the sound of the generators QPR hired to beat the miners' strike and use their floodlights. Without them, the game would have been played on a midweek afternoon, as was the case with the quarter-final at Birmingham City and the semi-final leg against Manchester City at Home Park.
The goals Alan Welsh and Steve Davey scored at Birmingham (I was there too) were outstanding - especially Davey's - but the performance at QPR was better. One of the great nights in Argyle's history. This was what I put together for the WMN Argyle centenary series in 2003-04, complete with some splendid stuff written on the night by Ray Head:
Rangers routed by rampant Pilgrims
Plymouth Argyle may not have done anything special in the old Football League Third Division â they finished in 17th place â in the 1973-74 campaign, but in the League Cup they were almost unstoppable.
For the second time in their history, the Pilgrims reached the semi-finals of the tournament, and they did it in style. Three First Division clubs were beaten on their own grounds before the run came to an end in a close defeat over two legs to a star-studded Manchester City side at the last-four stage. Burnley, Queenâs Park Rangers and Birmingham City all found Argyle too hot to handle.
Burnley, in the third round, and Birmingham, in the quarter-finals, were both beaten 2-1. QPR, in contrast, were swept aside on a great night in west London in the fourth round. Plymouth pummelled the Loftus Road men 3-0 in one of the finest cup-tie displays in their history.
Under manager Gordon Jago, QPR were riding high in the top flight and had big names like Terry Venables, Terry Mancini, Frank McLintock, Gerry Francis and Stan Bowles. But, incredibly, there was only one team in it on the night.
This is how Western Morning News correspondent Ray Head described the eveningâs entertainment on Tuesday, November 20, 1973: âPlymouth Argyleâs Alan Welsh was principal boy in a London West End smash hit last night which had everybody but Queenâs Park Rangers, currently the capitalâs brightest, breeziest soccer show, clapping.
âWelsh, who scored two tremendous goals, thoroughly deserved the star billing. Steve Davey rattled in his 12th goal of the season to complete the regal feast Plymouth set before the 19,072 Loftus Road crowd.
âAll the goals arrived in the second half when the fans were really beginning to appreciate Argyleâs ever- widening talent. Tony Waitersâ high- flyers took a stunningly exciting way of reaching the quarter-finals of the League Cup, and only on the odd occasion did the old QPR flair surface. Poor Rangers. They met a team who sustained a peak of skills, which suggested that it is not too premature to hail them as possible winners of the competition.
âAlthough Rangers never lacked the energy to try to get back into the game, super Argyle just would not allow it. What a mesmerising, incredible combination of blistering pace and glittering skills they turned on. They produced a soccer show which was not far removed from perfection. Speed coupled with class. Individual ability of the highest order plus a standard of passing and general team-work which was pure clockwork.
âArgyle were masters of every blade of grass on the Loftus Road pitch. High-scoring Rangers were simply submerged in a dazzling green and black sea of Plymouth shirts â and the scoreline in no way over-estimated their superiority.
âRangers were glad to survive without more damage, while Plymouth must take every credit for keeping the game open and playing in a positive style.
âRangers never looked capable of staging a recovery once Argyle had taken the lead. Once they slipped further behind it was Rangers, not Plymouth, who looked set for slaughter.â
Welsh was the ringleader of the Argyle attack. He opened the scoring in the 16th minute when he tricked his way through the left flank of the QPR defence and found the net from a narrow angle. Ten minutes later Paul Mariner won the ball and set up Daveyâs close-range goal.
In the last minute Welsh, according to the WMN, âthundered a fearsome shot past Phil Parkes to complete Argyleâs memorable night. Rangers did not offer much threat. Neil Hague and company took a grip and strangled any possible fire or flair from the home side, who will suffer recurring nightmares from this result.â
Argyle: J Furnell; C Randell, B Saxton, N Hague, C Sullivan; A Welsh, J Hore, E Machin, Alan Rogers; S Davey, P Mariner. Substitute: D Rickard.
