On this day this week (w/e 29th March)
Article published 29/03/2020

Having expressed pessimism about my ability to find daily items for this time of the year (due to regular International breaks) I have managed to find archived reports and information relevant to each day this week. One or two are on the more obscure side, but I hope you find them all of interest. As usual, I have Declan Mulcahy to thank for his generous contributions. Between us we will try to find interesting reading material for throughout this fallow period for football and all sport.

23rd March

On this day 2009, Spurs sent a strong reserve team to The Hawthorns and beat the home side 2-1. We fielded a strong team, captained by Pascal Chimbonda, who scored our added time winner.

Did you know?

1. Paul-Jose M'Poku, who played in this game, is now 27 and is playing for Al-Wahda in Abu Dhabi in the U.A.E. M'Poku only recently transferred from Standard Liege in Belgium for whom he played 176 league games scoring 35 goals. M'Poku played in both Standard's Europa League games this season against Arsenal.

2. Yuri Berchiche was an unused substitute in that Reserve game at West Brom. Left back Berchiche is now 30 and has spent most of his career playing in Spain. For the last two seasons he has played for Athletic Bilbao. In the 2017-18 season Berchiche was with PSG playing in 22 league games. He also appeared in PSG's Round of 16 Champions League games at home and away against Real Madrid.

On Good Friday, March 23rd 1951, Peter Murphy scored the only goal of the Fulham v Tottenham Hotspur game at Craven Cottage. It ensured they retained their 5-point lead at the top of the table with just 8 games left to play.

There have been some significant encounters on March 23. None more so than Saturday 23 March 1901. Spurs met Reading in the third round of the FA Cup (the modern equivalent would be the sixth round). Of the eight teams remaining six were from the Football League and Spurs and Reading from the Southern League. The score was 1-1 with two minutes remaining. Then a Reading player hit a speculative shot which went over goalkeeper George Clawley's head. It looked like a definite goal but Spurs full back Sandy Tait intercepted the ball and punched it away. The referee seemed to be the only person who didn't see the handball. The Biscuitmen were denied a penalty and the game ended 1-1. Spurs went on the win the FA Cup for the first time.

On Saturday 23 March 1974 Spurs were the visitors at Old Trafford. United were having a poor season and were at the bottom of the first division table. Spurs were in 11th place. It was goalless at half time, but Spurs won thanks to a second half Ralph Coates goal. Spurs did the double over United that season and United were relegated at the end of the season. Denis Law had a distinguished career with Manchester United but played for Manchester City before and after United. Much to his chagrin he scored the only goal of the game for Manchester City in the Manchester derby on the last Saturday of the season. However United would have been relegated regardless of the result.

In 1985 on 20 March Spurs were eliminated from the UEFA Cup in the fourth round by Real Madrid after a 0-0 draw at the Bernabeu Stadium. Three days later Southampton were the visitors at White Hart Lane. Ossie Ardiles made his first start of the season after injury and had a huge impact on the game. He scored the only goal of the first half. Danny Wallace equalised early in the second half. Spurs went ahead when Hoddle hit a volley so hard that Shilton got a hand to it but couldn't keep the ball out of the net. Ardiles who wasn't fully match fit was substituted with a quarter of the game remaining, but Spurs scored three in the final 16 minutes from Falco, Crooks and Brooke to win 5-1.

Finally, a match that most of you should remember. On Sunday 23 March 2014 Southampton were again the visitors at White Hart Lane. Mauricio Pochettino was the visiting manager for the second and last time to date against Tim Sherwood's Spurs. Things looked grim when Southampton scored two goals in the first 28 minutes. Naughton was culpable on both occasions. Five minutes later the Southampton defender Clyne failed to clear the ball and it fell to Eriksen who reduced the deficit. Spurs brought on Sigurdsson for Dembele at the start of the second half. In the first minute of the half Soldado crossed for Eriksen to score again and it was now 2-2. Lambert could have won the game for Southampton with two minutes remaining but his shot was narrowly wide. In third minute of time added on Eriksen - the man of the match - set up Sigurdsson who scored with a shot from twenty five yards and gave Spurs a slightly fortunate 3-2 victory.

24th March

On this day 2010 we beat Fulham 3-1 in an FA Cup quarter-final replay.

On Saturday 24 March 1979 Spurs visited Villa Park. Aston Villa led 2-0 at half time thanks to a penalty from Gidman after McAllister tripped Little and a goal from Andy Gray in the final minute of the half. Glenn Hoddle missed a good opportunity when he put the ball over the bar from six yards. Spurs won the game with three goals in a seven-minute spell in the final twelve minutes. Hoddle atoned for his earlier miss with goals in the 78th and 84th minutes with Chris Jones scoring in between. Spurs accumulated their 1000th away point in the football league as a result of this victory.

On Wednesday 24 March 1993 Manchester City came to White Hart Lane. This was the fourth meeting between the two teams this season but the first at White Hart Lane. Anderton and Nayim gave Spurs a 2-0 half time lead. Sheron scored for City on the hour mark. Turner scored for Spurs with three minutes left for a 3-1 result. Spurs achieved an unusual feat in beating Manchester City four times this season. The results of the other three games all played at Maine Road were:-

Wednesday 28 October 1992 League Cup 3rd round 1-0 Samways
Saturday 28 November 1992 Premier League 1-0 Phelan o.g.
Saturday 7 March 1993 FA Cup 6th Round 4-2 Nayim 3, Sedgley (Sheron, Phelan)

The FA Cup match was somewhat notorious. Nayim completed his hat-trick to put Spurs 4-1 ahead with five minutes remaining. Two minutes later Turner had the ball in the net, but it was disallowed for the most marginal of offsides (perhaps diplomatically). Then Phelan went down the other end and scored to make it 4-2. At this point several hundred angry City fans invaded the pitch in an attempt to have the match abandoned. The match was delayed for 13 minutes while mounted police and other police with dogs restored order. During this time there were 37 arrests, a female steward was assaulted, and a spectator was taken away on a stretcher. Once the game restarted the referee awarded Spurs a penalty within 50 seconds after Curle tripped Turner. With only a couple of minutes left to play Sheringham wisely deliberately shot wide of the post and Spurs won 4-2.

25th March

Your "On this Day" today was not the most dramatic of games (a 1-1 draw at Watford in 2000), but hopefully offers some interesting reading You could also occupy yourselves while at home at thebest-casinos.com. Home entertainment is going to keep us going in this long period of lockdown or partial lockdown.

26th March

I found you an "On this day"! It's a reserve report from 2002. We had a triallist goalkeeper Lars Hirschfield. There were other familiar names, including match referee Kevin Friend.

27th March

On this day 10 years ago, we beat Portsmouth 2-0. It's hard to believe (and still very hard to swallow) that two weeks later Pompey beat us in an FA Cup semi-final.

Also on this day - 14 years ago - two goals by former Wolves man Robbie Keane enabled our hunt for top four to continue against West Brom.

28th March

On this day 1998, Jurgen Klinsmann scored in a 3-1 win away to Crystal Palace. He would score more at Selhurst Park later in the season!

29th March

I have found a rather obscure "On this day" for you. It is a report on a friendly youth match played at Myddelton House, which is actually very close to the modern-day Spurs training ground. Not many of the named players forged a professional career, but David Button, who was then an under 13 goalkeeper is currently on West Brom's books. Other players such as goalkeeper Tommy Forecast, Charlie Lee (now 35), Danny Stevens, Simon Dawkins and Andy Barcham have succeeded to varying degrees in the game. Charlie Lee's latest team is Billericay in The National League (South). In 2018-19 he was part of Justin Edinburgh’s successful Leyton Orient squad. Another of the Spurs players that day is still on the Spurs Odyssey message board! (This section was last updated on 29/03/22)

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