I hold FA Cup goal record and I can’t see it ever being beaten… but Erling Haaland gave it a good go

9 months ago 73

ERLING HAALAND may have netted five against Luton on Tuesday night – but he did not get close to the record for FA Cup goals in a game.

That honour belongs to Bournemouth legend Ted MacDougall, who scored NINE in a first-round tie against Margate in 1971.

Erling Haaland celebrates his fifth goal against Luton on Tuesday night[/caption]

Here the former Cherries striker tells SunSport about his amazing feat…

I HAD absolutely no idea at the time that I had broken any goalscoring record when I hit nine for Bournemouth in the 11-0 rout against non-league Margate.

Being a typically single-minded striker I wished I had scored all 11 as I sat in the dressing room afterwards.

But it wasn’t until the BBC contacted me later that Saturday evening and told me that it was the biggest haul of goals by any player in an FA Cup match since a guy called Wilfred Minter had scored seven goals for St Albans in 1922 that it dawned on me that my name had gone into the record books.

At the time I remember saying in the interview that records are there to be broken and it would only be a question of time before someone hit double figures in an FA Cup match.

But my hat-trick of hat-tricks is still sitting there unbroken to date and now I’m not quite so sure it will ever be beaten given the way the game has changed.

The two things I remember vividly about the game is that it was a rainy day and the opposing Southern League Margate manager Les Riggs winding us up in the media before the match.

I had scored 42 goals during the previous season at Bournemouth so was getting a bit of a reputation as a serial goalscorer, but as the first round game approached, Riggs dismissed me by claiming: “We’ll treat him just like any other player.”

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Once I had got off the mark after 90 seconds they just kept going in. I had scored my first hat-trick after 27 minutes, team-mate Micky Cave added a fourth and by half time I had scored five.

Dear old Les (Riggs) jokingly asked my manager at the time, the brilliant John Bond, if it would be possible to substitute me!

Bondy was having none of it. I added another four in the second half, scoring my ninth with two minutes remaining. Mel Machin had scored No 10 in between.

But I don’t recall any of them being spectacular. They were typical goal-poaching strikes.

I had that knack of being in the right place at the right time and also was blessed with being quick over three or four yards in and around the 18-yard box.

Despite scoring all those goals I wasn’t given the match ball at the end. I just treated the match like any other.

I was touched that several weeks after the game the club presented me with an Omega watch with an engraving of nine balls on the back.

I thought that was a lovely gesture and I’m pretty sure Bondy orchestrated it. I learned so much under his management and was delighted to link up with him at Norwich after stints at Manchester United and West Ham.

I’ll never get bored talking about November 20, 1971 and the day I chalked my name into the FA Cup record books

Ted MacDougall

The one goal I’m probably remembered for more than any other is the diving header I scored at Aston Villa a month after the Margate triple hat-trick, probably because it became part of the Match of the Day credits for a season.

These days I live in America but I enjoyed every moment of my time playing for Bournemouth and I’m immensely proud that there is a MacDougall Suite at Dean Court where couples can get married at the Vitality Stadium.

Despite starting as an apprentice at Liverpool and playing for York, Manchester United, West Ham, Norwich and Southampton, it’s Bournemouth where I have a huge soft spot.

One thing is for sure: I’ll never get bored talking about November 20, 1971 and the day I chalked my name into the FA Cup record books with my hat-trick of hat-tricks!

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