After taking over halfway through an encouraging 1969–70 season, Brentford manager Frank Blunstone went into the 1970–71 Fourth Division season with the belief that the club would be able to finish one place higher and gain automatic promotion. Five players were released and three were transferred in – midfielderJackie Graham from Guildford City, utility playerPaul Bence from Brighton & Hove Albion and Chelsea youth defender Michael Maskell. Due to financial constraints, Blunstone's squad was limited to just 16 players for the fourth consecutive season, but the youth team was reactivated after being disbanded due to budget cuts in 1967. Everything went wrong as the season got underway, with a failure to win any of the opening 9 matches of the season in all competitions setting a new post-war club record. The loan signing of former Busby BabeAlex Dawson from Brighton & Hove Albion in September 1970 helped improve matters, with the forward scoring 7 goals in 11 appearances and inspiring a five-match winning streak in October and November. Frustratingly, a £7,000 deal to buy him fell through and he left the club after his loan expired. The final match in which Dawson scored was a 2–1 victory over Gillingham in the FA Cup first round and while the team would slowly pull themselves away from the relegation zone and finish comfortably in mid-table, the FA Cup gradually became the main focus of the season. Third Division club Walsall were beaten in the second round, but the third round draw failed to produce a money-spininng tie and instead an away trip to fellow Fourth Division club Workington. A John Docherty goal was enough to see off Workington and the fourth round draw produced another away tie, this time to Second Division club Cardiff City. Over 23,000 watched Brentford run out 2–0 winners at Ninian Park, courtesy of goals from Jackie Graham and John Docherty. Brentford also faced Second Division opponents in the fifth round – Hull City and victory would have made Brentford the second Fourth Division club to reach the last-eight of the FA Cup. Brentford took the lead through Bobby Ross at Boothferry Park, but two late goals from the Tigers ended the Bees' run. Significantly for the long-term future of Brentford, the FA Cup run generated £8,000, which helped boost the profit on the season to £20,000 and enabled the final instalment of the club's 1967 £104,000 loan to be paid off. A 6–4 victory over York City on 9 November 1970 equalled the club record for highest aggregate score in a Football League match.
