Date: Wednesday, 1st December 1965.

Venue: Elland Road, Leeds.

Competition: Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, Second Round, Second Leg.

Score: Leeds United 0 SC Leipzig 0.

Scorers: Leeds United: Nil. SC Leipzig: Nil.

Attendance: 32,111.

Teams:

Leeds United: Sprake; Reaney, Bell; Bremner, Charlton, Hunter; Storrie, Lorimer, Peacock, Giles, O’Grady.

SC Leipzig: Weingang; Faber, Geissner; Pfeufer, Naumann, Geisler; Engelhardt, Trolizsch, Frenzel, Zerbe, Loewe.

Referee: Albert Boogaerts (Holland)

On a snow-covered Elland Road United went through to the next round by preserving their one goal advantage from the first round by grinding out a dour 0-0 draw with chances few and far between. Leipzig keeper Horst Weigang made several fine saves including one at full stretch to deny Billy Bremner.

SC Leipzig were unchanged from the first encounter, but United welcomed back Alan Peacock in place of Paul Madeley. The fact the game went ahead was a tribute to much hard work by eighty volunteers who used braziers and much hard work to clear the pitch and terraces to make the game possible. It very nearly went wrong for United as Leipzig started brightly on the frozen pitch which they were more accustomed to than United. Their crisp inter-passing and ball skills had United disorientated on the slippery surface and it was lucky that left-winger Wolfram Loewe only hit a post early in the game. It was just as well that the Leipzig finishing was not of the same standard as their approach work or it could have been a different story.

United had a few chances themselves with Peter Lorimer missing the best opportunity with a header from a Mike O’Grady cross. It was to be injury-ridden Alan Peacock’s last European game for United as he was transferred to Plymouth Argyle in October where he was forced to retire the following March.

There were complaints from the German team after the game that some Leeds players had nails sticking out of their boot studs. The charge was strenuously denied by Don Revie, but a Leeds player later mentioned a book that cardboard had been used in place of a strip of leather on the studs to give better traction. The complaint was made by the Leipzig forward Rainer Trolitzch to the Referee at half-time, after he and several of his team mates had picked up cuts and abrasions. Don Revie intimated that the Referee made no approach to the Leeds Dressing Room and a possible explanation was the German injuries had been caused by the ice on the pitch.

So in the depth of winter in conditions totally in favour of the East German’s United had triumphed and progressed to the Third Round where they were drawn to face Spanish side Valencia, who had progressed to the same stage by defeating Hibernian, after a playoff, and FC Basel.

Teams:

Leeds United 1965-66:

Back row: Don Revie (Manager), Alan Peacock, Willie Bell, Jack Charlton, Gary Sprake, Paul

Madeley, Norman Hunter, Rod Belfitt, Les Cocker (Trainer).

Front Row: Terry Cooper, Paul Reaney, Albert Johanneson, Billy Bremner, Jimmy Greenhoff,

Johnny Giles, Peter Lorimer, Eddie Gray.

Match Action:

Leipzig keeper Weingang saves spectacularly from Bremner as Charlton and Lorimer wait for the scraps.