When all was foggy on the Preston front

The Terras might have won the tie 1-0 at the Rec, but the game was marred by an injury to goalkeeper Bob Charles, who broke his arm in a collision with Bees' striker Finch.

Player-manager Frank O'Farrell was obviously concerned as he felt reserve team goalkeeper Dick Whitson was not quite ready for first team Football.

The club telephone line was kept busy as O'Farrell rang his contacts searching for a suitable replacement. He eventually spoke to Cliff Britton, manager of Hull City, a former playing colleague of his at Preston North End.

Britton was able to recommend Billy Bly who, although 41 years of age, had been released by the Tigers at the end of the 1959-60 season, but had kept fit by playing for Brunswick Institute. He had also played in his own benefit match when he lined up for an ex-Hull XI against an All Stars' side in October 1961.

O'Farrell contacted Bly, more in hope than in expectation, without seriously thinking that he could persuade the gloveman to make the 300 mile journey south a couple of times a week.

However the recurring theme of Bly's life had been his professionalism and pride in doing the job he did best - keeping goal.

To O'Farrell's great surprise Bly agreed to travel down to meet him in London for a chat. The two met in the buffet at King's Cross

station and a deal was agreed in which Weymouth would pay Bly £15 a week to sign for the remainder of the season.

It was also agreed that Bly would travel down to Dorset at weekends and stay with a relative in Parkstone.

O'Farrell also stipulated that this should happen whether the Terras were playing at home or away, as he felt that Bly might experience travel difficulties if he was to make his own way to away fixtures. Furthermore, Bly would stay in Dorset when midweek fixtures were scheduled.

As well as in Poole, he lodged with Eileen Gray in Newstead Road, Weymouth which was as near as one could be to the old Rec without sleeping in the Gasworks End.

Bly made his debut on November 11, 1961 in a home league victory over Wellington Town (now better known as Telford United) when 1,746 paid to see a 5-1 Weymouth victory.

This was the week after the Barnet fixture, which goes to show how fast Bly and O'Farrell worked to make the arrangements.

In his spell at Weymouth, Bly was to make 36 appearances and he was in the Terras side that recorded the club's first ever home defeat of a Football League side.

This happened in the next round of the FA Cup, on November 25, 1961, when Colin Court, who had got the winner against Barnet, again scored the only goal to thrill a crowd of 6,500. Incidentally in the Newport County goal on that afternoon was John Clarke who went on to serve the Terras with such distinction.

A disappointing third round draw saw Weymouth paired away to Morcambe, but the long trip north proved successful with a Ron Fogg strike seeing the Dorset team through.

Needless to say that Bly was just one of many Weymouth officials, players and supporters who were gathered around their wireless sets as the fourth round draw was made.

On this occasion Weymouth were given another long away trip to Lancashire, this time to Deepdale to face Preston North End.

Of course, with one of those quirks the world's premier club knock out competitions is famous for, a trip to Preston must have pleased O'Farrell as he had left that club to move into management at the Rec.

In many ways it was this fixture that cemented Billy Bly's name into Weymouth Football Club folklore, not for his shot stopping abilities, but for his optimism.

The official party left Weymouth on the Friday and decamped to their hotel in Blackpool, moving on to Preston the following morning. They were followed by around 935 people who left Weymouth Station at 11pm on the Friday night, in two trains, each of whom paid £1 10s.

As a matter of historical note it is recorded that Morecambe received permission to cancel their game in order to allow their fans to travel to Preston - and support Weymouth!

Conditions in Weymouth, during the week building up to the game at Preston, had been wet and wild. This had left the Rec in such a poor sate that the players could not train on it.

To allow the club to take training, the town council erected extra lights on the Esplanade and closed the area off with the players put through their paces there.

When the coach arrived at the Deepdale ground, on January 25, 1961, visibility was poor due to a thick blanket of fog descending over the area. Nevertheless the referee decided to try and get the tie played and started the match on time.

However, after 13 minutes, he took the players from the field and everyone retired to the boiler room, in an effort to keep warm. As the officials waited to see if conditions would improve a young Roy Bly, mascot for the day and son of the hero of our story, noticed that there were only 21 players present. He also realised that the missing man was his father.

After some deliberation Sammy McGowan, an ex-Weymouth player and now spongeman was sent out to search for Billy. Eventually, he was located in the goal Weymouth had been defending, staring into the fog desperately looking for a site of the home forwards, or a visiting defender, or indeed, any other signs of life!

By now it was impossible to see for more than a few yards and it was not only Bly who was looking for the action!

McGowan took Bly back to the warmth of the boiler room and to the bosom of his colleagues. Naturally Billy was asked why he had stayed on the field and not joined the throng earlier. He replied that he had assumed that Weymouth were applying all the pressure at the other end of the pitch!

He was genuinely shocked to find that the referee had taken the players from the field, sometime before.

With conditions not improving the referee had no alternative but to abandon the game and send the crowd of 18,000 on their way, at 3.35pm. The teams were to try again on the Monday.

It was a sad set of Weymouth supporters that returned to Dorset - very few could afford the time or expense of staying in Lancashire for the replayed game.

For the players it was back to their Blackpool hotel to prepare for the re-arranged match. For O'Farrell it was yet another round of telephone calls as he had to call employers to organise another day off work for his players - he had been called upon to do the same thing in the week leading up to the tie.

Meanwhile the fifth round draw had been made with Weymouth or Preston away to Bill Shankley's Liverpool.

Sadly a trip to Anfield was not to become a reality as two goals, just before the interval in the replayed encounter, scored by Alex Dawson and Phil Thompson, saw Preston through to the fifth round.

Weymouth's team for was the same for both games: Billy Bly, John Sheppard, Phil Stocker, Jimmy Anderson, Tony Hobson, Frank O'Farrell, Colin Court, Des Jones, Ron Fogg, Cliff Nugent and Brian Bevan.

Afterwards O'Farrell revealed that Bly, who was always prone to injury because of his bravery in goal, had played with a broken

finger for the past four weeks. Bly did, as agreed, see the season out before moving on to ply his trade back in the North East.

Following his short spell with Weymouth, Bly moved back up to the north and next played for Hull Brunswick, in Division Two of the Yorkshire League. He finished his playing days there and stepped on to the management ladder by taking charge of the club's junior team in 1965.

Bly had returned to his first post-war trade, as a decorator, by now having sold his famous sweet shop in Hull - the city he had earlier made amost 500 appearances for.

In February of 1970 Bly took the decision to use his knowledge in the decorating field to help others and joined the Borstal Service as an instructor.

He was based at Everthorpe Borstal and it was here that his footballing career, spanning some 35 years, was to end. The sports staff at the borstal persuaded Bly to play in a Prison Staffs Cup tie against Durham Jail, but he was to break an ankle which effectively finished his playing career.

Time finally caught up with Bly in March 1982 when he died at home in his beloved city of Hull.

The amazing story of Billy Bly is told beautifully by his son Roy in a new book, The India Rubber Man.

Well written, with many personal memories and statistics, the forward is penned by Sir Edward Heath, second in command of Bly's regiment in post-war Germany.

The India Rubber Man is available at a cost of only £10 (plus £1.50 p&p) from Tykes-port Publications of 2 Conifer Close, Maplewood Avenue, Hull, East Yorkshire, HU5 5YU or from the supporters' club shop at the Wessex Stadium, priced £10.