1978–79 Stoke City F.C. season
Match Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
1 19 August 1978 Cambridge United A 1-0 7,489 Richardson 87 '
2 23 August 1978 Cardiff City H 2-0 16,001 Smith 75 ' , Busby 85 '
3 26 August 1978 Millwall H 2-0 15,176 Busby 77 ' , Crooks 82 ' ( pen )
4 2 September 1978 Oldham Athletic A 1-1 11,267 Richardson 46 '
5 9 September 1978 Orient A 1-0 6,587 O'Callaghan 84 '
6 23 September 1978 Preston North End A 1-0 14,051 Kendall 24 '
7 27 September 1978 Brighton & Hove Albion H 2-2 22,201 Crooks 45 ' ( pen ) , O'Callaghan 50 '
8 30 September 1978 Crystal Palace H 1-1 19,079 Irvine 5 '
9 7 October 1978 Fulham A 0-2 12,534
10 14 October 1978 Burnley H 3-1 18,437 Richardson 14 ' , Kendall 28 ' , Irvine 55 '
11 21 October 1978 West Ham United A 1-1 27,859 Richardson 87 '
12 28 October 1978 Sheffield United H 2-1 21,285 O'Callaghan 7 ' , Crooks 74 ' ( pen )
13 4 November 1978 Sunderland A 1-0 25,170 O'Callaghan 87 '
14 11 November 1978 Cambridge United H 1-3 19,024 Busby 62 '
15 18 November 1978 Millwall A 0-3 6,925
16 22 November 1978 Oldham Athletic H 4-0 17,170 O'Callaghan 14 ' , Irvine 19 ' , Crooks ( 2 ) 66 ' , 78 '
17 25 November 1978 Blackburn Rovers A 2-2 10,841 O'Callaghan 65 ' , Crooks 76 ' ( pen )
18 2 December 1978 Leicester City H 0-0 15,590
19 9 December 1978 Newcastle United A 0-2 23,447
20 16 December 1978 Wrexham H 3-0 18,358 Crooks ( 2 ) 40 ' , 72 ' , Roberts 75 ' ( o.g . )
Results -- Football League Second Division
Main article : 1978–79 Football League
The 1978-79 season was Stoke City's 72nd season in the Football League and the 25th in the Second Division. Alan Durban continued his good start at Stoke and they were involved in a promotion race from the start of the campaign. It proved to be a very exciting season with four clubs all keeping pace with each other meaning that it went down until the final match of the season. Stoke needed to beat Notts County at Meadow Lane to gain promotion and despite a large Stoke away following it seemed that County would spoil the party but with just two minutes remaining Paul Richardson scored the winning goal and Stoke took the final promotion position in the most dramatic way.