19th April - Spurs in History

19th April, 1972

AC Milan 1 Spurs 1 UEFA Cup SF (2nd Leg)

After their sterling performance to take a one goal lead into the second leg this draw enabled Spurs to reach their second European Final. Spurs were looking for an early goal and it came from their inspirational captain, Alan Mullery (Pic: Captain and goal scorer, Alan Mullery led by example). A Chivers shot was blocked, the ball fell to Perryman, the scoring hero from the first game and he played the ball off to Mullery who scored from 20 yards.

A few weeks earlier Mullery had been playing for Fulham, on loan, in the old 2nd Division, now following his unexpected recall, he was leading Spurs to a European Final and received a call up to the England squad.

Spurs defended well and restricted Milan's scoring opportunities. The home side's only real shot at goal was a penalty awarded with twenty minutes to go. It was a harsh decision, the referee being pressurised by the crowd. Having equalised Milan continued to look for a winner but Spurs remained in control and went through to the final over two legs against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

19th April, 1975

Spurs 2 Chelsea 0

The crucial relegation six-pointer, whichever team lost would almost certainly be relegated. This had been a very traumatic season for Spurs. Manager Bill Nicholson had resigned at the beginning of the season following a poor series of results in the opening four games. He was replaced by Terry Neill, former Arsenal captain, and the season was one long struggle against relegation. There were few high points in the season but with three games remaining Spurs still had it in their own hands to avoid the drop.

In a very tense game, with crowd trouble before, during and after the match, Spurs managed to win with goals from Alfie Conn and Steve Perryman. They lived to fight another day in the battle against relegation which was to go to the final match of the season before safety was assured. This defeat didn't help Chelsea's cause and at the season's end they were relegated on goal average, two places and one point behind Spurs.

19th April, 2000

Spurs last game on this day was at Leicester when a David Ginola goal gave them the three points. This was Spurs' first win in six games since they had beaten Southampton 7-2 at White Hart Lane in mid-March. From those previous five games, they had gained only one point in a draw at relegated Watford.

19th April, 1958

Leicester City 1 Spurs 3

In another win at Leicester, the final away game of the season, Spurs continued an impressive end of season run with their fourth successive win. The goals were scored by Terry Medwin, Bobby Smith and Cliff Jones.

Since early February, Spurs had played thirteen League games and suffered only one defeat. The nine wins and three draws, including a 4-4 draw against Arsenal at Highbury, had seen Spurs move up to third place in the League. The season closed the following weekend with another win, at home to Blackpool, 2-1, with Medwin and Smith scoring again.

Bobby Smith equalled the 1931 record of Ted Harper, scoring 36 League goals in the season.

Spurs have maintained an impressive sequence of results on this day (19th April) since 1969:

1969: West Ham (h) Won 1-0 Greaves
1972: AC Milan (a) Draw 1-1 Mullery
1975 Chelsea (h) Won 2-0 Conn, Perryman
1976 Coventry City (h) Won 4-1 Pratt, Osgood, Duncan, Neighbour
1980 Everton (h) Won 3-0 Miller, Ardiles, Galvin
1986 Manchester United (h) Draw 0-0
1997 Aston Villa (a) Draw 1-1 Vega
2000 Leicester City (a) Won 1-0 Ginola