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Spurs vs Woolwich (4 Apr 83)

YB941 5thD EFM ~soul~
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YB941 5thD EFM ~soul~ Newbie

YB941 5thD EFM ~soul~

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Monday, April 4th, 1983

 

Football League Division One

 

TOTTENHAM HOYSPUR (3) 5, ARSENAL (0) O

 

Tottenham Hotspur : Clemence; O'Reilly, Miller, Roberts, Hughton;

Archibald, Mabbutt, Gibson, Galvin; Falco, Brazil. (Hazard was substitute

but not used).

 

Arsenal : Wood; Robson, Whyte (sub Petrovic, 45), O'Leary, Sansom; P

Davis, Nicholas, Talbot, Rix; Sunderland, Woodcock.

 

Referee : Mr A Robinson (Hampshire).

 

"GLORY! GLORY! HALLELUJAH! GLORY! GLORY! HALLELUJAH! GLORY! GLORY!

HALLELUJAH! AND THE SPURS GO MARCHING ON!" echoed to the rafters as the

final whistle end a rout of Spurs' deadliest local rivals, Arsenal. Not

since season 1911-12, when Arsenal were still based at Woolwich, have

Spurs thrashed their rivals in such decisive fashion. As the crowd left

the ground, the Spurs fans wore the broadest of smiles whilst the Arsenal

fans hid their scarves and slunk away meekly.

 

The morning papers carried the story that Spurs were heavily fining Tony

Galvin for being sent off at Brighton at a time Spurs looked like winning

the match. Keith Burkinshaw had commented after the match, "We were in

the driving seat with 11 against 10. Then you get a stupid, immature

fellow like Tony Galvin getting himself sent off as well. Immediately

Brighton go and score twice. I'm not saying it was his fault that they

got two goals but it must have helped us to have had 11 against 10." To

be fair, Burkinshaw added that he felt the referee had been a little

harsh in sending Galvin off when put alongside the very crude tackle by

Ramsey on Falco. Spurs had gone ahead in the 23rd minute when Roberts,

captain in the enforced absence through suspension of Perryman, had

scored and would have won by a decisive margin had their shooting been

much steadier. After Galvin's dismissal, Brighton had equalised from a

free-kick. From Stevens' well-taken kick, Gatting played a one-two with

Smith and fired the ball behind Clemence. A minute late, Gatting's header

was blocked on the line and Ryan fired home the winner. Jimmy Melia

conceded Brighton had been very lucky to win as he said they had played

far better in other games without winning anything.

 

Over 43,000 packed into White Hart Lane for the game against Arsenal. At

43,642 spectators, it was, in fact, Spurs' highest home gate of the

season. Inevitably there was trouble before the game when some juvenile

fans began fighting on the Edmonton end of the Shelf. Some of the crowd

spilled over on to the pitch as the police began escorting Arsenal fans

to the Park Lane terraces but the trouble was under control before the

teams came out.

 

Despite their 2-1 defeat at Brighton, Spurs retained the same eleven,

with the sole change of recalling the more reliable Paul Miller in place

of John Lacy to partner Graham Roberts. This meant that both Archibald

and Gibson continued in midfield. In the stands sat Garth Crooks, John

Pratt, Pat Jennings, Glenn Hoddle, a wealth of Tottenham talent. Pat

Jennings is one of the few Spurs players to have left the club who

invariably gets a warm welcome on his return to Tottenham, despite the

fact he plays for Arsenal.

 

Arsenal's form has fluctuated in the last few weeks. Some of this can be

attributed to their injury problems but some of it can probably be blamed

on the players thinking of winning through to another Wembley final.

David O'Leary has missed quite a few games with a persistent ankle injury

and needed to come through this game if he was to have any realistic

chance of playing in the Semi-Final against Manchester United. Pat

Jennings has also had injury problems - it has been his worst season for

injuries in his 20-year Football League career. Robson, who was left out

of the team to play Southampton to ensure he played against Manchester

United, was recalled to the team. Wood continued in goal despite the fact

he was not popular with the Arsenal fans.

 

Tottenham began the match defending the Park Lane end and promptly

grabbed the initiative, which they never lost. Arsenal were clearly

thinking of avoiding injury and did not appear to have any stomach for

the game. In vain did Don Howe and Terry Neill bob up and down in the

first twenty minutes trying to get the team to fight but after that it

was all over.

 

Wood was to blame for the first goal. Hughton galloped down the wing,

laid the ball off to Brazil, who pushed the ball on to Archibald.

Archibald pushed the ball on to Hughton, whose shot was mis-kicked and

trickled past the virtually motionless Wood. As the Spurs fans began

their celebrations, Wood, O'Leary, Robson and Sansom were clearly seen

arguing whose fault it was.

 

In the 13th minute every Spurs fan regretted the absence of the

television cameras for this would have been *the* goal of the season had

it been televised. Clemence threw the ball out to the hovering Gibson on

the right wing. Gibson tore the length of the right wing, easily eluding

the clumsy tackle of Arsenal's Robson. On the edge of the Arsenal penalty

area, he momentarily steadied himself and took a quick glance at the

goalmouth. Gibson's cross was inch-perfect, Falco timed his run perfectly

and Wood was left clawing at empty air as the ball rocketed into the goal

to billow the net gracefully. Falco turned to face his team mates,

whooping in delight.

 

As Mark Falco disappeared beneath a rugby scrum of his delighted team

mates, Terry Neill sunk back into the gloom of his touch-line seat whilst

Don Howe stood up barking instructions to his team. Not for many years

had Spurs made such a dream start to a North London derby ---- and more

was to come!

 

Five minutes later, Spurs were 3-0 ahead! Galvin and Hughton played a

one-two on the left. Hughton played the ball square to Archibald who

flicked it back first time and Hughton struck the ball firmly wide of

'keeper Wood before turning away to celebrate his personal triumph of two

goals in a match. Wood and O'Leary argued about where the blame lay. Wood

seemed to think O'Leary should have prevented Archibald's pass to Chris

Hughton whilst O'Leary seemed to think Wood had been late in coming off

his line.

 

Soon after that, Spurs might have gone further ahead. Talbot very nearly

lofted the ball into his own goal and Brazil twice went very close to

scoring. Every time the Spurs moved forward, the Arsenal defence panicked

and seemed afraid to move or hold the ball at all. Not that Spurs had it

all their own way but every time Arsenal tried to break away, Alan

Sunderland was invariably caught by the offside trap frequently sprung by

Miller and Roberts, the latter revelling in his temporary role of team

captain.

 

With seven minutes to go to the interval, Wood performed a brilliant save

to deny the hard working Gibson a goal that would have matched Falco's

effort. The ball had bobbled about in the goal area and broke loose for

Gibson to slam a shot goalwards that Wood could only finger over the bar

to Gibson's intense disappointment.

 

When the two teams emerged for the start of the second half, it became

apparent that Arsenal had withdrawn Chris Whyte and sent on Vladmir

Petrovic, withdrawing Talbot from midfield into defence in order to

accommodate Petrovic.

 

Five minutes into the second half, Arsenal made their first telling move

of the game. Rix chipped a ball in from the wing and Petrovic just failed

to get a shot in before Mabbutt hooked the ball away.

 

Within a minute, Spurs had gone 4-0 ahead. Spurs were awarded a

free-kick. Miller floated a long ball high and as Wood dithered in

deciding whether to come out or stay on his line, Falco hammered home his

second goal of the match with a blistering right foot shot that took his

tally to five in four matches. As Falco disappeared beneath the

back-slaps of his team mates, the crowd roared their approval. Not for

many years had Spurs fans had the luck to see Arsenal so comprehensively

humilated.

 

Spurs, 4-0 ahead, began to ease off. Arsenal were allowed to creep back

into the game but fortunately for Spurs, Sunderland was woefully out of

form. Yet it was Spurs who came closest to scoring for Arsenal! Clemence

was on the far side of his goal area performing exercises when Roberts

chipped the ball back. To the horror of the Spurs fans, the ball appeared

to be bouncing towards the goal. Clemence tore across his goal in a vain

attempt to catch the ball but, thankfully, the ball spun wide for a

corner at the last minute.

 

So far, there had been only one booking. That had been just before

half-time when Mark Falco had protested to the referee that Talbot had

held him down as he had tried to meet a Mabbutt cross. Falco's booking

means he now has to serve a one match suspension on April 23rd. But in

quick succession, Robson, for a foul on Gibson, and Rix, for dissent,

were booked. Robson's booking automatically rules him out of any replay

against Manchester United.

 

Wood pulled off another brilliant save not long after the Rix booking

when he fingered a long shot from Galvin over the bar but he could not do

much a few minutes later when Alan Brazil completed the rout. Robson

misjudged a header from O'Reilly and Brazil pounced to slam home his

first ever goal for Tottenham.

 

Spurs had barely finished celebrating when disaster struck Arsenal.

O'Leary went down heavily during a goalmouth scramble and did not get up.

Despite lengthy treatment from Arsenal and England physiotherapist Fred

Street, O'Leary had to be helped off. It was obvious he could not place

weight on the ankle and it took him quite a while to limp to the dressing

room.

 

A few minutes after that, Spurs should have gone 6-0 ahead when Gibson

broke through but Wood timed his run right to foil him. Thereafter, Spurs

played out time, intent on keeping their goal intact.

 

After the match, Keith Burkinshaw was beaming broadly. "We have waited a

long time for that one," he commented. "Arsenal did us like that 5-0 not

so long ago and it hurt. It's been five years since then and it's nice

and sweet to see it happen today. We didn't let them play at all. Falco's

first goal was probably the best I have seen for a long time. It pleased

me more than anything else this season. It came from two lads who are

home grown, Tottenham through and through. I'm just pleased we managed to

get that win under our belts because things haven't gone as well for us

this season as they might have done. You get a result like this and you

believe in yourself a bit more."

 

Considering that Arsenal had lost as comprehensively so close to a big

match, Terry Neill refused to criticise his team publicly beyond telling

them they had forfeited their day off next day. "I would not wish to take

anything away from Tottenham," he said. "They were totally in control and

we were not good enough. My job now is to talk with the players about the

reasons and the remedies."

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YB941 5thD EFM ~soul~ Newbie

YB941 5thD EFM ~soul~

Posted
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Really? There's no footage anywhere?

 

I was at that game - I assume you were there too, JK?

 

I've been trying to get together video footage of some of these 80s games (got Wolves 6-1, Watford 3-2 at Vicarage, Newcastle 5-1 etc.) - guess I'll have to cross this one of my "want" list.

 

<img src="/forum/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

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YB941 5thD EFM ~soul~ Newbie

YB941 5thD EFM ~soul~

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"But if future historians scour old video-tapes seeking one piece of footage to define the magic of Hoddle, then they will settle, surely, on his goal at Watford in 1983. Receiving the ball on the right side of the box, some 15 yards out and at an acute angle to goal, he feinted one way, made space with a deft back-flip, then half-swivelled to chip gently into the far corner of the net. It all seemed to happen in slow motion, and was so perfect in execution that it might have been choreographed."
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Laz Newbie

Laz

Posted
Posted

Nope Jillster! I'm not absolutely certain about which match it was but I know this ex-legend made his first appearance for Spurs at Watford, Hoddle played in the game, and I'm pretty sure the score was 3-2 to Spurs.

 

Keep guessing? I suppose some research may reveal the name.

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