Clearing up some confusion regarding Spurs' scoring records
I have several queries and e-mails following my match report on Sunday's spectacular win against Wigan.
In the report, I stated that Jermain Defoe became only the fourth Spurs player to score five goals in a league game. If only he had scored a sixth to make the place of top individual scorer in one game his own exclusively!
I mentioned Ted Harper (30.08.30 Spurs 7 Reading 1), Alfie Stokes (18.09.57 Spurs 7 Birmingham 1) and Bobby Smith (29.3.58 Spurs 6 Aston Villa 2).
My inclusion of Bobby Smith caused the confusion, and according to official Tottenham Hotspur Records is incorrect, whereas for as long as they have included the statistic the Sky Sports (formerly Rothmans) Football Yearbook also credited Bobby with scoring 5 goals. Most newspaper reports of the day did state that Smith scored 5 and Terry Medwin scored the other Spurs goal, but those in the know (and especially Terry Medwin) stated that Medwin actually scored the first of the goals that was credited to Bobby Smith. There was no such thing as the goals review panel in those days, as no league games were televised!
It is interesting to note that Spurs records show the scorers as "Smith 4, Medwin 2". If the first of "Smith's goals" was admitted/claimed by Medwin then surely the correct way of showing the scorers should have been Medwin 2, Smith 4. This is how Bob Goodwin's excellent book Tottenham Hotspur - The Complete Record records the scoring.
If you are lucky enough to meet either Terry Medwin or Bobby Smith, then perhaps you can seek more information about this event. in the meantime, I'll correct my comment to read "Jermain Defoe became only the third Spurs player to score five goals in a league game". That's the truth, and I was there!
By the way, Les Allen also scored five goals in Spurs' historic 13-2 FA Cup win over Crewe Alexandra on 3rd February, 1960, so Jermain WAS the fourth Spurs player to score five in a competitive match!
P.S. - Martin Lilly of the excellent Spurs Postcard site Whitecardlane ( Ed's note 2019 - no longer active) craves an honourable mention for George William ('Willie') Hall, who represented Tottenham Hotspur 224 times in league & FA Cup games from 1930 up to the Second World War.
On 16th November 1938 Willie Hall scored 5 goals for England against Northern Ireland so, technically, he was the second Spurs player (6 weeks after Ted Harper) to score 5 goals in a competitive match. OK, it wasn't in the lilywhite of Tottenham but rather the white of England, but I thought he deserves a mention in this debate!
It is also a notable feat as the 5 goal haul included the fastest hat-trick in international football (which still stands) which was completed inside 4 minutes.
Results 21-25.11.09
B'mingham 1-0 Fulham
Burnley 1-1 A. Villa
Chelsea 4-0 Wolves
Hull 3-3 West Ham
Liverpool 2-2 Man City
Man Utd 3-0 Everton
S'derland 1-0 Arsenal
Bolton 0-2 Blackburn
Stoke 1-0 P'tsmouth
Spurs 9-1 Wigan
Fulham 3-0 Blackburn
Hull 3-2 Everton
Barclays Premier League
Pos Team P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Chelsea 13 11 0 2 33 8 25 33
2 Man Utd 13 9 1 3 26 12 14 28
3 Arsenal 12 8 1 3 36 15 21 25
4 Spurs 13 8 1 4 32 18 14 25
5 A. Villa 13 6 4 3 21 13 8 22
6 Man City 12 5 6 1 23 16 7 21
7 Liverpool 13 6 2 5 29 20 9 20
8 S'derland 13 6 2 5 21 19 2 20
9 Stoke 13 5 4 4 13 15 -2 19
10 Fulham 13 5 3 5 17 15 2 18
11 Burnley 13 5 2 6 18 28 -10 17
12 Blackburn 13 5 1 7 16 28 -12 16
13 B'mingham 13 4 3 6 11 14 -3 15
14 Everton 12 4 3 5 15 20 -5 15
15 Hull 14 4 3 7 16 30 -14 15
16 Wigan 13 4 2 7 14 31 -17 14
17 West Ham 13 2 5 6 19 23 -4 11
18 Bolton 12 3 2 7 15 27 -12 11
19 Wolves 13 2 4 7 12 26 -14 10
20 P'tsmouth 13 2 1 10 10 19 -9 7
