Today I'm going back 38 years to 1983 and Tottenham's UEFA Cup 1st Round 2nd Leg tie against Drogheda United from the Republic of Ireland at White Hart Lane in what was the first European club game that I ever attended.
Both sides had qualified for the UEFA Cup by virtue of their final league position the previous season. Spurs had finished fourth in the First Division behind Champions Liverpool, second placed Watford with European Cup Winners Cup winners (yes that was once a thing kids!) Manchester United in third. Drogheda had finished as a distant runner up to Athlone Town in the League of Ireland
The 2nd Leg of this tie was a foregone conclusion even before kick off as Spurs had already won the first leg away in Drogheda by 6-0. Nevertheless they put out a first choice XI for the second leg and proceeded to carry on where they had left off two weeks earlier. In front of a crowd numbering 19.831, it was 4-0 to Spurs by half time with two goals each from Mark Falco and Graham Roberts and there was no let up in the second half with a further four goals for Tottenham to end the tie 8-0 and 14-0 on aggregate. The second half goals were scored by Alan Brazil (2 goals which were his first of the season), Steve Archibald and Chris Hughton.
Little did we know it at the time but the games against Drogheda were the first steps in a journey that was to end in European triumph for Tottenham. In the second round they beat Dutch side Feyenoord 6-2 on aggregate and in the third they saw off the German and European power house Bayern Munich 2-1 on aggregate. In the Quarter Finals Spurs beat Austria Wien (known as Austria Vienna on the night) 4-2 on aggregate and they then overcame Yugoslavia's Hajduk Split in the Semi-Finals only on the away goals rule following a 2-2 aggregate draw to set up the victorious UEFA Cup Final against Anderlecht.
CRB Match No. 260
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