For March 20th I'm going back 39 years to 1982 and Tottenham's home game against Southampton.
This was a good season for both clubs. Spurs were on their way to Wembley again in the FA Cup and they finished in the European qualification positions ending up fourth behind Champions Liverpool, Ipswich Town and Manchester United. Southampton for their part qualified for the UEFA Cup finishing seventh and owed their European place to Spurs and Swansea City who finished higher but who qualified for the European Cup Winners' Cup instead.
The attendance at this game was a very healthy 46,827, the largest I had been to at White Hart Lane at the time and eventually the fourth largest that I was ever to experience at the Lane (48,200 the following year against Arsenal being the largest). Spurs won the game 3-2 perhaps surprisingly thanks to a hattrick from Graham Roberts who had been released by Southampton as a youngster. In the post match interview, Roberts attributed his goals to a pre-match session with a psychologist. Southampton, under Lawrie McMenemy, were building a formidable side and included former European Footballer of the Year Kevin Keegan, Mick Channon and Alan Ball in their line-up.
Also great pre-match entertainment for the crowd can be seen in the MOTD video as Roberts and Ricky Villa attempt to catch a cockerel helpfully brought into the stadium by one of the home supporters. It makes you wonder about the efficiency of the stadium entry search procedure as, if you can smuggle in a live bird, one wonders what else could have been sneaked in? No kitchen sinks can be spotted pre-match but they're no doubt out there in the crowd somewhere.
CRB Match No. 162
Comments
Post a Comment