This is the story of how the Glens reached the Quarter finals of the European Cup Winners Cup.

In the first round the Glens had been drawn against Chimia Ramnicu Vilcea who were top of division two in Romania in mid-september.
The Glens had to endure an arduous trip and despite this Glentoran were successful in gaining a 2-2 away draw.
In the second leg at the Oval Chimin's tactics were rough and as a result they had Donose sent off in the 38th minute. A 2-0 win meant that Glentoran were the first Ulster team to qualify for the second
round.

In the next round the Glens were drawn against Brann Bergen of Norway.
Heavy rain had turned the Norweigans pitch into a lake and to the surprise of all involved the referee declared the game should proceed. In the extremely difficult conditions Brann took the lead on 11mins the Glens battled and battled but received a sickening blow as Rab McCreery broke his leg despite this Billy Walker equalised seven mins later with a precious away goal.
The return leg on Nov 7th had to have an afternoon kick off as the floodlights did not make the required standards. The 5,200 there seen Weatherup and Feeney stat in a 3-1 win and a 4-2 aggregate victory.

Glentoran were noe the ONLY BRITISH representative left in the competition as Rangers, Cardiff and Sunderland had all been knocked out

The Quarter Final Draw had landed one of Europe's finest teams in the shape of Borussia Moenchengladbach. Borussia had finished runners up to Liverpool in the 1973 Uefa Cup and included half the West German squad who would go onto win the World Cup that summer. They included names such as Bertie Vogts, Rainher Bonhoff, Ule Stielike, Jupp Heynkes and Dane Henning Jensen.

The first leg was switched to the Oval and a 12,000 crowd seen a Glentoran team containing 5 teenagers go down 2-0 to goals from Heynckes and Koppel. Goalkeeper Trevor McCullogh made some amazing saves but it was all too comfortable for Borussia.

The tragic death of Roy Stewart just hours after the final whistle left the Oval and local football devastated. Stewart's consistency had been rewarded by the 1972/3 Glentoran Player of The Year and his passing left a huge void at the Oval.

A the second leg in Germany as a mark of respect play was halted and a minutes silence held in Roy Stewart's memory. The game itself turned into a damage limitation exercise and the Germans ran out 5-0 winners.

So Glentoran had reached the last 8 of the European Cup Winners Cup and had produced another famous chapter in the history of Glentoran F.C.