Saturday September 19th 1970
Crystal Palace 0 Tottenham Hotspur 3
On this day 30 years ago, would you believe that 41,308 people crammed into Selhurst Park to see Crystal Palace (who had just evaded relegation the previous season) entertain the mighty Spurs? It was Spurs who did the entertaining however, as they ran out 3-0 winners, with two goals by Martin Chivers and one by Alan Mullery. Chivers' first was a great header from a Cyril Knowles cross, and then skipper Mullery put the game beyond the hosts with a great shot midway through the second half. Ken Hancock made a rare appearance in goal, and he started the move that led to the third goal. Gilly collected his throw, passed to Steve Perryman, who gave it to Peters. Peters slid a pass through to Chivers, who hammered home in typical style.
Spurs team was: - Hancock; Kinnear, England, Beal, Knowles; Pearce, Mullery, Perryman, Peters; Gilzean, Chivers. Neil Johnson replaced Jimmy Pearce. Johnson was one of those youngsters (another was Dennis Bond) who had played in the first team in the previous season at the expense of big names such as Greaves, after our disgraceful exit at the hands of Palace in the FA Cup 3rd round replay.
On this day in 1970, Spurs went to Selhurst Park in 7th place and Palace were in third. At the end of the season, Spurs were third and Palace finished fifth from bottom. The Palace squad in those days included goalkeeper John Jackson, veteran John Sewell (who I recall scored a ridiculous lobbed goal against Leeds' Gary Sprake), Mel Blyth, Steve Kember (still at Palace in a coaching capacity the last I heard), Gerry Queen, and Alan Birchenall (ex-Chelsea, and nowadays announcer at Filbert Street).
The referee was Jim Finney, recognised as one of the best, who had been the official for our FA Cup victory in 1962 against Burnley. The programme (see above) was all white, and looked more like some sort of executive brochure. The Palace manager was one Bert Head (pictured right),
who looked more like the manager of a bus depot (Don't ask me how I justify my comment!), but he was a hero for the Palace fans who had seen a meteoric rise from the Third Division to the heights of the top half of the First. Palace struggled on till the end of 73, when they succumbed to the drop, only making it back 6 years later.
Finally, here is an extract from a genuine fan's letter on the subject of women at Football matches:- "I personally think that women should not attend football matches.
Surely they do not appreciate the tactical side of the game. If I utter a few cusses, I get looks from the ladies that would be more suited on my mother-in-law. If they must come then please pen them up!" Hmmm - no comment from me there!
Other results on this day over the last forty years were:-
62-63 A v Wolves D 2-2
64-65 H v West Brom W 1-0
73-74 A v Grasshoppers W 5-1 (UEFA Cup)
78-79 A v Aldershot D 1-1 (Friendly)
81-82 H v Everton W 3-0
84-85 A v SC Braga W 3-0 (UEFA Cup)
87-88 A v West Ham W 1-0
92-93 H v Man Utd D 1-1
98-99 A v Southampton D 1-1
99-00 H v Coventry W 3-2
So, we haven't lost on this date since 1942 (War game at West Ham - lost 3-1). There's a record that will be intact after the game at Brentford, won't it?
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