Bobby Hutchinson will forever be remembered as the only Bristol City captain to lift a trophy at the old Wembley Stadium.
But being presented with the Freight Rover Trophy in the Royal Box after the 3-0 win over Bolton Wanderers in May 1986 wasn’t the only highlight of the Scottish midfielder’s eventful career.
During three seasons with Hibernian in the late 1970s, Hutchinson numbered a certain George Best among his team-mates and played in a Scottish Cup final against Rangers at Hampden Park.
He rarely settled in one place for very long as the Robins were his eighth club and he went on to represent three more after leaving Ashton Gate.
Terry Cooper later enjoyed reflecting on Hutch as a player in three short sentences – “Leapt like a salmon. Couldn’t pass water. But what a captain!”
There was more than a grain of truth in each statement. Bobby was brilliant in the air for his height and generated great power with his head, without scoring as many goals as he would have liked.
His passing could be suspect, but no one questioned his work-rate and the demands he made on teammates as an inspirational skipper.
It didn’t take Cooper long to embrace those leadership qualities after Hutchinson arrived at Ashton Gate on a free transfer from Tranmere Rovers in the summer of 1984.
City had just won promotion from the Fourth Division, with Tom Ritchie as captain. But he was coming to the end of his second spell with the club and left to join Yeovil Town in January 1985.
By the following season, Hutchinson was not only a first team regular, but had established himself as captain.
He scored twice in a game three times during his City career, the third of those braces coming against this weekend’s opponents Swansea City at Vetch Field on Saturday November 23 1985.
Cooper’s men had struggled initially in Division Three, but results had improved sufficiently to suggest a second successive promotion campaign might not be beyond them.
They went to Swansea buoyed by a six-match unbeaten run, which included a 4-2 FA Cup first round replay win over West country rivals Swindon Town in the previous game.
Steve Neville netted a hat-trick in that match and his strike-partnership with Glyn Riley was becoming more potent by the week.
Hutchinson teamed up with recent signing David Tong in central midfield, with Howard Pritchard raiding down the right wing and Alan Walsh on the left in a typically attacking Cooper line-up.
David Moyes had made an uncertain start to his City career after signing from Cambridge United the previous month, so Lee Rogers and Keith Curle started in the centre of defence, with the current West Ham United manager on the bench.
Keith Waugh was in goal, with Andy Llewellyn and Rob Newman occupying the full-back roles. Eight of the team would go on to start at Wembley against Bolton six months later.
Swansea’s team included former Manchester United, Arsenal, Aston Villa and England goalkeeper Jimmy Rimmer and midfielder Gary Emmanuel, who had played for both Bristol clubs.
There was no sign in the opening half hour that City would improve on a poor away record. The home side were a yard quicker to the ball and striker Alan Waddle was proving a powerhouse in the air.
Pressure told in the 20th minute when Emmanuel’s corner was only half-cleared and defender Chris Harrison sent a looping shot beyond the reach of Waugh.
City’s goalkeeper was overworked, saving a shot from Waddle, who also put two headers wide, and deflecting away an effort from Sean McCarthy, who 13 years later would spend a loan spell at Ashton Gate.
Incredibly, by the interval the visitors were 2-1 up. On 38 minutes, Pritchard headed a Newman centre to the far post back across goal for Hutchinson, who equalised from close range.
Two minutes later Swansea fans were stunned into silence. Newman was again involved in a move that ended with Hutchinson beating Rimmer at his near post with a shot on the turn from a seemingly impossible angle.
The goals did not spare City’s players from a Cooper tongue-lashing at the interval. “I told them they were the luckiest team on earth to be winning and that I was looking for a huge second half improvement,” he told me after the game.
It had the desired effect. Walsh began to dazzle on the left flank and had a 47th-minute shot cleared off the line by Harrison.
There was no escape for the Swans a few minutes later when the powerful City winger turned full-back David Hough inside out on the edge of the box before drilling a trademark left-footed shot past Rimmer.
The experienced keeper saved his side from a hammering, blocking two more goal-bound efforts from Walsh. At the other end, Waugh had become a virtual spectator.
Hutchinson’s goals had totally transformed the match. Summing up Bobby's efforts in my Evening Post match report, I wrote: “His response when fouled or to a bad decision is to get on with the game without wasting a second. And when City are in trouble, no one works harder to put things right.”
Cooper was equally fulsome in his praise, saying: “For enthusiasm alone, Bobby is worth his weight in gold to us," he said.
“Only he could have scored our second goal. No one else would have contemplated shooting from such a narrow angle. I don’t think Jimmy Rimmer could believe it!”
City would go on to finish ninth in the Third Division that season. But when it ended, few of the 30,000 supporters who followed their team to Wembley for the historic win over Bolton were complaining.
Swansea City: Rimmer; Hough, Gibbins, Harrison, Sullivan; Budd (Melville 69 mins), McHale, Randell, Emmanuel; McCarthy, Waddle.
Bristol City: Waugh; Llewellyn, Curle, Rogers, Newman; Pritchard, Tong, Hutchinson, Walsh; Riley, Neville; Sub not used: Moyes.
Referee: Alan Seville (Birmingham).
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