Semi-final just a blur for Bob

He was the Baggies fan who broke the hearts of the Albion throng. But Bob Hazell still can't remember a thing about it.

The club return to the FA Cup semi-finals on Saturday 26 years since their last appearance ended in the calamity of defeat to a then Championship level Queen's Park Rangers.

And although one of the capital's famous goalscoring sons, Clive Allen, struck the goal that took Rangers to the final, no player did more to sink the Baggies that day than Hazell.

Former Villa manager John Gregory was in the Rangers midfield in those days but, ineligible for the semi, watched the Highbury contest from the QPR dugout. And his eyes rarely strayed from the central confrontation on which the semi-final hinged.

"To be honest, it was a pretty crap match," Gregory says. "But if you are going to speak to one man about that game it has to be Bob. He won it for us."

Why the reverence for the central defender? Because Hazell produced arguably the game of his career to nullify Albion legend Cyrille Regis, who at that time was in all his pomp and one of the most feared strikers in the top flight.

Albion would ultimately be grateful for Regis for scoring the goals that would keep them in the division but they hoped his pace and power would also see them through to Wembley. Hazell made sure it was not to be.

"Yeh that's true," says Regis. "I was flying at the time, I had 24 or 25 goals. And Bob has told me since how he was singled out to stop me.

"Bob was a powerful player like me and he had a great game, he was on form that day. I can only remember getting a half chance. He matched me wherever I went and we kind of nullified each other. He also clattered Andy King – nothing illegal – with a challenge and he had to go off which also upset our rhythm.

"But there is a message there for any team. You've got to have more than one match winner. I was playing well at the time and I am not saying everybody wasn't playing well but Rangers were right. If you stopped me scoring they would have a good chance."

Hazell is now a Birmingham-based 48-year-old Sports Prevention Manager working to help rehabilitate young offenders through sport. But despite memorable spells at Molineux, where he became the first black player to score for Wolves, and then Port Vale and Leicester, no game defines him quite like that heartbreaking day for Albion.

A pity then, it's all still a bit of a blur.

"You will find this hard to believe but the truth is I can barely remember one or two incidents from that game," says Hazell.

"It was one of those matches where I concentrated so hard that even when the final whistle went I didn't realise it was the end of the game.

"But, at that time, Cyrille was ripping up trees, he was really doing the business and I remember vividly the team meeting beforehand. Terry Venables (QPR manager) looked at me at that meeting and said: 'Bob, if you can look after Cyrille, we have got a good chance here.'

"Although Cyrille and I were and are good friends that was my mission for the day. For the day? It felt like it was my life's mission. And from the time we walked out on to the pitch to after the match had been finished, barely a couple of things have ever come back to me.

"I can remember the lead up to our goal although I can't remember how the ball came in my direction. They showed it on TV last week but the clip was so short I still couldn't remember how it got there.

"The only other thing I can remember is right at the finish, we won a free-kick and I tried to be clever and waste a little more time by kicking the ball forward. The ref realised what I was up to and decided to teach me a lesson and said 'Right, play on.' Derek Statham jumped on to it but just as he made his play, the final whistle went.

"Tony Currie came up to me and shouted 'Bob, Bob, you did ••••••• great!' I don't think I responded. I was still in the 'zone'."

In fact, it wasn't until the following day when another legendary local figure came to take his pal out for a celebration that the enormity of the occasion struck home.

"I was back home – and I remember this bit clearly – that me and my great friend George Berry were out for a drive on the Sunday afternoon.

"We were somewhere in the country and I was looking at the trees flying by and I suddenly said to George: 'Blimey, I'm going to Wembley. I'm going to be in the FA Cup final.' And suddenly it all struck home. That FA Cup final was everything to me. As a kid I was an absolute fanatic up at 9am to watch the coverage begin.

"I remember all of that. And now I was going to be there. I really started to take it all in.

"Normally I can go through a game 100 times in detail and remember all the moments, recount them and replay them. But I think that match was just so intense and marking Cyrille was such a challenge.

"We've spoken about it many times, shared a stage together and talked about it, been away together and people have brought it up. It did mean a great deal to me.

"I had been brought up as an Albion fan and that day I was playing against some of my heroes. John Wile was in the side and I had watched him from the terraces. Tony Brown and Ally Rob . . . it was a big thing for me.

"And when I was at Wolves, I used to sneak away and watch Albion play.

"I was always a little disappointed that Albion never came in for me as a schoolboy but at that time, a lot of people would have struggled to get in there.

"To play against them and turn them over made that day all the more memorable and all I can say is 'Thank God' for that memory."

Ultimately, Hazell finished empty-handed as Spurs won the final after a replay but he does not believe that should deter the focus Albion place on Saturday's meeting with Portsmouth.

"It's alright saying promotion is more important but if your team is good - and Albion's is - the odds that you can get up the following year are still very good," he insists.

"You can't say that for the Cup. It could be an age before Albion are here again. And often when you look at teams getting promoted when they are not ready, they have all sorts of problems.

"They don't say 'Well, we did well to even get here'. It all implodes and they can easily end up going down a couple of divisions.

"But any player who has walked out there for the final will remember it forever. I got promoted with QPR and that was terrific but it still doesn't match playing in the FA Cup final. And I was on the losing side! Had we beaten Spurs, they would still be trying to drag me down from the clouds now."

Unfortunately, his head overrules his heart when he looks to Saturday's contest and the possibility of the Baggies enduring another FA Cup semi disappointment to go with the setbacks of 1969, 1978 and 82.

He adds: "Portsmouth are a really powerful team. When you are the lower division side, the one thing that you hope for in Cup ties is that physical edge.

"You like to play a Tottenham where you know they are going to be very skilful but you might have the edge in muscle, aggression and work rate. That isn't the case here and Albion are going to have their work cut out.

"I don't know whether it's bravado in Albion saying the league is more important. Personally, I don't like that talk. For Pompey, winning the FA Cup is everything. And that could also make a difference.

"I would love to see Albion do it, it would be terrific for this area no matter what the Wolves fans think! But if I had any money I would have to put it on Pompey."