This preview was written by Brian Judson
League Cup ties only.
Date Rd H/A Res. Scorers
29.08.79 2/1 H 2-1 Pratt, Hoddle
05.09.80 2/2 A 1-3 Armstrong
07.10.81 2/1 H 1-0 Archibald
28.10.81 2/2 A 1-0 Hazard
25.10.89 3 A 3-0 Lineker, Samways, Nayim
It is the first tie that sticks out in my mind most because of Hoddle's
goal. I think it was that night we first saw the dead ball ploy that was
to become very familiar over the next few years. We were given a free-kick
wide on the right at a very acute angle to their goal. Yorath and Ardiles
stood facing each other across the ball. Hoddle stood at right angles to
them both. Ardiles tapped the ball to Yorath, who killed the ball and
Hoddle volleyed the ball home off the crossbar. It was such a stunning
goal that the BBC replayed it for a very long time afterwards.
But another game I remember is for reasons totally unconnected with
football. It was the night of the last time we played them at Old Trafford
in this competition. I was looking forward to watching the highlights on
TV. My SO (Ed:- other half?)decided to tidy up some flowers that were droopy and decided to
water them. She parked them on the TV whilst doing so and overfilled the
vase so that water flooded the TV and short-circuited it. Fortunately, I'd
set up the video which recorded the highlights but I had to wait a further
two days for the TV to be replaced before I finally saw them! I won't
mention the argument that blazed until the small hours of the following
morning ............
It should be an interesting game on Wednesday because Spurs will be
fielding their strongest team whilst Manchester United will probably put
out their strongest reserve side. It will be interesting to see if
Sheringham plays because if he does we can always remind him he's playing
for a second best team and that he hasn't won anything since leaving us.
It may be a co-incidence but I cannot think of any Spurs player who has
subsequently played for Manchester United *and* been successful. Garth
Crooks was very injury prone when he went on loan to Manchester United and
Alan Brazil was a bundle of nerves. Chris McGrath was simply out of his
depth in a very poor Manchester United team heading for relegation. I
cannot think off-hand of any other players who have left us to play for
them.
As for the score, I think that if we can score first, then we ought to
win. But it won't be as easy as it might be to play the reserve side of
another club and the outcome may well be just the one goal splitting the
two teams.
Cheers, Brian
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