Saturday, April 15, 2006

15th April - Spurs in History

Spurs take over Highbury

15th April, 1981

Thanks to referee Clive Thomas, Spurs had the oportunity to take over Highbury in the FA Cup semi-final Replay against Wolves.

Spurs 3 Wolves 0

Unfortunate, that a late penalty decision went against them to necessitate a replay, Spurs ensured there were no problems this time.

Spurs fans greatly outnumbered Wolves supporters and Garth Crooks gave them the perfect start, scoring with a header in front of the North Bank where many of them were packed. Wolves came looking for an equaliser but only managed to hit the woodwork and then before half-time Crooks showed a burst of pace to reach a Hoddle through ball and score with ease.

Spurs were celebrating further when Ricky Villa sealed victory with a run and powerful shot from outside the box. This was just a little fore-taste of what he was to produce in the Final at Wembley.

Spurs celebrated at reaching Wembley and poured onto the pitch at the end - the best 'home' performance all season.


15th April, 1963

Spurs 7 Liverpool 2

The Easter fixtures had Spurs and Liverpool meeting twice in three days. The Good Friday game had Anfield had seen Liverpool record a comfortable 5-2 victory. However, the Easter Monday game at White Hart Lane saw Spurs extract ample revenge, scoring seven.

Spurs had drawn their home game against Fulham on the Saturday and Nicholson made changes following the defeat at Liverpool. Tony Marchi moved to centre half in place of Maurice Norman, John Smith took Marchi's poition at right midfield and Frank Saul came in for Les Allen.

Jimmy Greaves led the way scoring four (1 penalty), Cliff Jones scored twice and Frank Saul got the other.

15th April, 1960

Chelsea 1 Spurs 3 (1st Division)

A long time ago, Spurs were the masters over Chelsea. As Bill Nicholson put the finishing touches to the 'double' side, this was the first of three games over Easter. Playing on Good Friday, a Bobby Smith hat-trick brought Spurs the two points. It had been a disappointing period for Spurs having gone four games without a win, managing only two draws. The remaining Easter games ended in defeats at home to Manchester City, the next day, and the return with Chelsea on Easter Monday. This poor sequence of results put an end to any chance Spurs had of winning the League that season, they finished third two points behind Champions, Burnley.

15th April, 1978

Brighton & Hove Albion 3 Spurs 1 (2nd Division)

Spurs attempt to gain promotion at the first time of asking was coming under severe pressure in the final weeks of the season. Four clubs were contesting three promotion places and Brighton had done themselvesa big favour with this win. Bolton, Southampton, Spurs and Brighton were to fight it out to the final day of the season and it was getting very nervy in the Tottenham camp.

At one time they had been quite assured in their endeavours but the pressure was starting to tell. Could they hold their nerve and claim a promotion position? Three games remained and Chris Jones' goal against Brighton was no more than a consolation - it did nothing to help their cause having given two points to one of their closest rivals.


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