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On September 7, 1968 Birmingham City striker Geoff Vowden wrote his name indelibly into Football League history.

Records come and go but no-one will ever surpass Vowden, then a 27-year-old striker of some repute, after he became the first substitute ever to score a hat-trick as Blues thrashed Huddersfield 5-1 at St Andrew’s.

Vowden signed from Nottingham Forest for £25,000 in October 1964 and had been Blues’ leading scorer in each of his first three seasons.

But in 1968-69 with Stan Cullis’s side bottom of the second tier and with only one win to their names after six games, the manager decided to drop Vowden for the first time in his seven years at the club.

The Barnsley-born forward responded eloquently.

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With Blues leading the Terriers 2-0 at half time, through Jimmy Greenhoff and Fred Pickering, Vowden came of for injured skipper Ron Wylie.

Frank Worthington, who would go on to play for Blues in the 1970s, pulled one back for the visitors before Vowden struck three times in 18 minutes.

Headers in the 71st and 74th minutes put Blues 4-1 up and with a minute remaining Johnny Vincent set Vowden up to make history and send 25,000 Bluenoses home happy.

Vowden would go on to score just seven goals in the 1968-69 campaign as Phil Summerill usurped his goal-scoring crown.

Blues would finish seventh that season.

He remained at St Andrew’s until March 1971 when he joined Aston Villa for £12,500 and scored 11 times as they won the Third Division title.

He moved on to New York Cosmos in 1974 before embarking on a coaching career in England and Saudi Arabia.

In all he played more than 220 games for Blues and scored 79 times.