Burnley v Tottenham Hotspur

Date : -  Saturday 5th May 1962

Venue : -  Wembley Stadium

Crowd : -  100,000

Weather : -  

Referee : -  J. Finney (Hereford)

Score : - Burnley   1
              Tottenham Hotspur  3

Goalscorers : -  Burnley : - Robson 50
                         Tottenham Hotspur : -  Greaves 3, Smith 52, Blanchflower (pen.)

Burnley : -  Blacklaw; Angus, Elder; Adamson, Cummings, Miller; Connelly, McIlroy, Pointer, Robson, Harris.

Tottenham Hotspur : -  Bill Brown; Peter Baker, Ron Henry; Danny Blanchflower, Maurice Norman, Dave Mackay; Terry Medwin, John White, Bobby Smith, Jimmy Greaves, Cliff Jones.

This match was dubbed "The Chessboard Final" because of the precise nature in which both teams went about their tasks.  Patience and skill were the name of the game, rather than speed and passion, but the game did prove to be intriguing as Spurs sought to take the FA Cup for the second season running.

Having failed to take the League Championship on the final Saturday of the season, Burnley's nerves had got the best of them in the league and the FA Cup was their only hope of silverware this season.  15,000 Clarets fans travelled down to Wembley and they witnessed a fine display from their players, but an even better one from the Tottenham Hotspur team.

It was a goal inside three minutes that took Burnley by surprise and gave Spurs a flying start.  Bill Brown launched a long ball upfield and Bobby Smith played the ball into the path of Jimmy Greaves, whose first touch was not brilliant, but he beat Tommy Cummings and slid the ball past Adam Blacklaw and just inside the post for the opening goal of the final.

Both teams were playing the football they had been noted for that season and effectively cancelled each other out, resulting in no more scoring in the first period.  Burnley's approach play was not matched by their finishing, which was less than clinical. 

It only took Burnley five minutes of the second half to equalise, when Ray Pointer freed Gordon Harris on the left wing.  He raced past Peter Baker and threw in a low cross, which found Jimmy Robson and his low shot went into the net through Brown's legs.  However, a team are never more vulnerable than when they have just scored and John White took advantage of this, by making ground on the left wing past Angus and McIlroy, before standing up a cross into the box.  Bobby Smith was stationed near the penalty spot and swivelled past Brian Miller to crash his shot into the goal to restore Tottenham's lead.  

While Tottenham now had the confidence to dominate play, the rest of the match was not without it's scares.  Jimmy Robson had the ball in the net again, but he was deprived of a second equaliser by the linesman's flag indicating he was offside.  However, this was not to be the only talking point among the Burnley fans, as Mr. Finney angered them by awarding Tottenham a penalty with eight minutes remaining.  A White cross saw Smith challenge Blacklaw and they both fell in a heap with Cliff Jones.  The linesman flagged, seemingly for a foul on Blacklaw, but play continued and Medwin's shot was stopped on the line by the arm of Cummings.  The whistle blew and the ref pointed to the spot.  Spurs could have had no cooler head than Danny Blanchflower to take the spot kick and as he approached, he made a shimmy that was hardly noticeable and as Blacklaw sank to his knees, the ball disappeared into the left hand corner of the net to extend the Spurs lead.

The match was played out with Tottenham happy to keep possession and Burnley had given their all, but on the day, Spurs were just too good for them and retained the FA Cup and keep the tradition of Spurs in the competition.