Date:
Venue:
Competition: First Division.
Score: Leeds United 1 Tottenham Hotspur 0
Scorers: Leeds United: Lorimer (pen). Tottenham Hotspur: Nil.
Attendance: 36,409.
Teams:
Leeds United: Sprake; Reaney, Cooper; Bremner, Charlton, Hunter; Lorimer, Madeley, Jones, Giles (Greenhoff), E. Gray.
Tottenham Hotspur: Jennings; Beal, Knowles; Mullery, England, McKay; Gilzean, Greaves, Chivers, Venables, Jones. (Per Programme).
Referee: Mr P. Baldwin (Middlesbrough).
Over the years United have
had some real battles with Londoners and games against Spurs, like Chelsea and
Arsenal, traditionally have an extra edge. When Don Revie's
marathon men faced Spurs in an Easter meeting between the sides in 1968, it was
their fifty-eighth game of the campaign and they were still chasing glory on
all fronts. United had already won the League Cup, beating Arsenal 1-0, and
were through to the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup and the FA Cup. In addition, victory
against Tottenham would lift them to within one point
of leaders Manchester United with a game in hand and Revie
knew his side were capable of a clean sweep.
The Londoners had many fine
players at their disposal with Ireland’s legendary goalkeeper Pat Jennings as
the last line of defence, while at full back they
could call on the young Joe Kinnear and England
International Cyril Knowles. They also had a few of journeymen who could plug
the gaps in midfield or play utility like Dennis Bond, Eddie Clayton and Phil
Beal. But the midfield was well stocked with English Internationals such as
Alan Mullery and Terry Venables,
while Scottish international firebrand Dave McKay was coming to the end of an
illustrious career.
Welsh International Mike
England was the lynch-pin in central defence and on
the wings there were more internationals, Scotland’s Jimmy Robertson and the
Welsh flyer Cliff Jones, who like McKay was getting to the veteran stage.
Scottish international striker Alan Gilzean
alternated between central striker and winger, but the prince of goal-scorers,
world-class English international Jimmy Greaves, could be relied on to score in
nearly every game. As if that was not enough, Spurs had invested heavily in
buying England International Martin Chivers from
Southampton for a then record fee of £125,000.
Spurs boasted the
reputation as one of London's glamour sides and had a fine pedigree for
"playing football the right way". But that reputation was seriously
tarnished at Elland Road as an intense rivalry was
born. Tottenham gave away an incredible 19 free-kicks
and saw Scottish international Alan Gilzean sent-off
for aiming a kick at Terry Cooper with the ball some 40 yards away.
The YEP's
Phil Brown wrote: "It was sad to see a side with the gallant reputation
Spurs have maintained so unscrupulous in stopping opponents. Playing for a draw
is one thing, and is a big thing in modern football, if to the latter's
detriment as a spectacle, but playing it like Spurs did is not
forgivable."
Unsurprisingly, the game
was decided by a penalty, with Peter Lorimer's 65th
minute strike proving the difference between the sides. It was awarded after
Pat Jennings appeared to flatten Mick Jones in the area. But the decision
didn't go down well with Spurs and Brown commented: "To a man, Spurs
players claimed Mick Jones had fouled Jennings, who certainly took a blow in
the mouth but who equally certainly flattened Jones afterwards. Spurs skipper
Dave Mackay made the penalty episode uglier by kicking the ball off the spot into
the net in disgust before Lorimer could take
it."
Gilzean's dismissal aside, Tottenham did apply themselves more in the closing period
but were unable to find a way though and United held firm. The 1-0 win
increased United's hopes of a league title success,
but they only won one of their last five games and finished fourth behind
champions Manchester City, Manchester United and Liverpool. The FA Cup dream
also ended against Everton with a 1-0 defeat, but the silver lining came in the
shape of the UEFA Cup. Leeds beat Dundee 2-1 in the semi-final before
overcoming Ferencvaros in the final.
Players:
The Star-studded Spurs:
 Pat Jennings |
 Joe Kinnear |
 Cyril Knowles |
 Alan Mullery/p> |
 Mike England |
 Dave McKay |
 Jimmy Robertson |
 Jimmy Greaves |
 Alan Gilzean |
 Terry Venables |
 Cliff Jones |
 Phil Beal |
 Martin Chivers |
 Dennis Bond |
 Eddie Clayton |
The Leeds team was the classic formation that was to be the basis of “Super Leeds”, all it took was Allan Clarke to replace Jimmy Greenhoff:
 Gary Sprake |
 Paul Reaney |
 Terry Cooper |
 Billy Bremner |
 Jack Charlton |
 Norman Hunter |
 Paul Madeley |
 Peter Lorimer |
 Mick Jones |
 Johnny Giles |
 Eddie Gray |
 Jimmy Greenhoff |