BURNDEN Park has struggled to rid itself of the stigma of hooliganism in the mid-seventies and by 1977 the club was under pressure to do something about it.

There had been some headline-grabbing flashpoints as the club built up to a promotion tilt under Ian Greaves, the most notable coming in games against Manchester United and Wolves in the two preceding seasons, but 45 years ago this week the club appeared to reach a tipping point when mounted police were called to stop a pitch invasion involving hundreds of fans minutes before kick-off in a top-of-the-table battle.

A crowd of more than 31,000 had assembled to see two of the Second Division’s big-hitters but the football sadly took a back seat as police made 11 arrests, ejected more than 50 people from the ground and St John’s Ambulance staff treated 70 different people for injuries sustained in what the match inspector, Supt Ken Moore, described as “ten minutes of madness”.

The Government were pressing clubs to take action against crowd trouble and though Bolton’s hierarchy maintained that they would not erect metal fencing to keep fans penned in, by the summer of ’77 they had done exactly that.

Wanderers’ secretary Edward Rothwell maintained: “It is no use Government Ministers pointing the finger at clubs, there is a compete lack of discipline throughout the country!”

The game itself had been in some doubt leading up to the weekend.

Snow – seven inches thick in parts of Bolton - and rain had caused chaos nationally and the Football Association had ruled that none of its staff should travel, which left Carlisle referee Colin Steel unable to check at Burnden pitch which had “resembled a lake” just 48 hours earlier.

Nevertheless, the game went ahead. Trouble before kick-off saw the first-ever deployment of mounted police on the ground, and though the sight of a white horse – named Bob Cratchett and ridden by PC Barry Smith - conjured evocative memories of the 1923 FA Cup final for Wanderers, there was no cause for celebration this time around.

Bolton started the game in swaggering fashion. Neil Whatmore skimmed the bar after Chelsea keeper John Phillips could only parry a fierce shot from Roy Greaves but he made no mistake a few minutes later when Garry Jones flicked on Alan Waldron’s free kick, bagging a 20th goal of the season.

In doing so, the Bolton striker also secured himself a tasty treat from his local butcher, Norman Brooks, pledged to match each of his goals with a piece of sirloin steak.

Jones then doubled the lead on 30 minutes after Phillips had found Waldron’s shot too hot to handle – and Bolton should have had a third when Whatmore and Peter Reid combined on the edge of the box, the latter squeezing a shot just wide of the Chelsea goal.

The muddy pitch nearly cost Bolton at the start of the second half when Reid’s back-pass to Jim McDonagh stuck fast, and the big keeper was forced to make a sprawling save at the feet of Steve Finnieston.

Sam Allardyce hadn’t heeded the warning and did exactly the same on 69 minutes, this time the Chelsea striker managing to thread his shot past McDonagh and into the back of the net.

Three minutes later the Blues were level. Tony Dunne’s free kick was played square to Paul Jones, whose moment of hesitation allowed Kenny Swain to nip in and drill an equaliser off the foot of the post.

Defensive mistakes had cost Bolton since the turn of the New Year – and they would go on to miss out on a promotion place by just a point from Nottingham Forest at the end of the season.

Eddie McCreadie’s Chelsea eventually secured runner-up spot behind Wolves and as they left on the team bus some words from their impressive midfielder and captain Ray Wilkins did not go down well with Bolton boss Greaves.

“I am not interested in the negative side of things,” he told the BEN’s Frank Booth. “I read that Ray Wilkins said that if his side had made the mistakes we did then manager Eddie McCreadie would have put them up against a wall and shot them.

“But do you shoot all the lot, or just a couple?

“Let’s get in good heart for the home game against Plymouth Argyle on Saturday and help the lads perform as well as we know they can when a large crowd encourages them.

“The undertakers won’t be coming to Burnden Park.”

The Bolton News: